The Rainbow Drops
by Curimuch
Summary: Foreigners from many continents of Popstar fled to Pupuland when strange storms chased them out of their lands. What was thought of as strange weather was sadly more. It makes Metaknight very apprehensive as he works in the background to keep peace.
1. Unlikely is the likely

**A/N: This fanfiction will be a mixture of the anime a year after Nightmare was defeated and a mixture of Dreamland 2 and 3. (As the title shows with "Rainbow drops".)** **To not hold up the story with the author note, I'll add more below. Enjoy the chapter~**

"Mom, why _can't_ we bring Kirby with us? Do you really think we can leave him alone outside of Pupu land for an entire year?" Fumu exclaimed her protest. Due to her worry for Kirby and her frustration with her mother's stubborn decision, it came off as a bit of a spoiled whine instead.

"Honey," Memu began, still retaining her stern but calm posture. "Kirby protects Pupuland and all of Popstar."

"But-" Fumu interrupted, only to also be interrupted by her mother. They were having one of their _usual_ spats.

"Don't you dare mention Metaknight, you know how he is. He'd rather watch everything unfold into chaos before he lifts a hand up," she scolded as she placed her hands on her hips. She saw her daughter submit to her stern scolding like usual when they had these spats. But now that she learned her place, Memu calmly added, "Kirby being here will motivate him a little bit, so it's a winning situation for everyone. We'll be fine, Pupuland will be fine, and Kirby will be fine, alright?"

"Okay..." Fumu replied with her head a little low from the scolding. "You're right..." she said as she got up from the chair she briefly sat in. "Just...let me bring Kirby to the castle first, okay?"

"Sure, Dear. Just do it quickly, we have a boat waiting for us after all."

--

To Fumu's luck, Kirby wasn't too far off from the castle. The little puff knew not to get too close to the castle, but he usually wandered near by in case he would run into his close friend Fumu. The kind pink child jumped and waved in excitement at the sight of his sisterly figure running his way. "Fumu! Fumu!!"

"Hi, Kirby!" the young girl greeted with opened arms. She giggled as her little friend jumped into her beige arms; hugging him was like hugging a pleasantly warm pillow. She kept him in her hold, and could tell that he was a little confused, but still pleased to be held. She giggled and explained, "Kirby, we're going to the castle, okay?"

"Huu?" Kirby asked as he tilted entirely to express his curiosity.

"You're going to stay there for the year. But don't worry, you'll be okay, I believe Metaknight will make sure you're okay!" Fumu explained as she walked across the bridge to the castle. She had a lot of admiration and faith in the knight, even for an odd request such as this. The WaddleDees however, looked very uneasy that she was bringing _Kirby_ into the land of Dedede, but there was nothing they could do but brace.

"Fumu, just place him down and lets go," Memu said when her daughter was close to the gates.

"Just a little longer, Mama! I promise it will be in an instant!" Fumu exclaimed and quickly ran into the castle before her mother could grab her.

"Hi, Memu!!" Kirby greeted happily, not feeling any sense of rush from either of the two.

–

Fumu wandered into the realm of Metaknight's room rather confidently. She smiled when she spotted the cloaked knight colored like the theme of night and called, "Metaknight."

"Yes?" he answered as he turned around.

"I have a favor..." she began as she waited for a response or action out of Metaknight. He remained as stoic as usual so she continued on. "I can't bring Kirby with me aaand..."

"So you're saying you don't trust him enough to be on his own?" Metaknight asked in a somewhat amused tone. But with the way he conversed with people, it was usually very hard to tell.

"It's not that I don't trust him..." Fumu replied as she brushed her fingers through her hair somewhat nervously. She hated when things liked this happened, especially with the too-intelligent-for-his-own-good knight.

"Then what is it?"

"Er..." Fumu grumbled in thought. She thought about his question for a few moments. She was beginning to feel like she _didn't_ trust Kirby, and rubbed her temples with the in growing headache that Metaknight caused her in one sentence. "It's not that I don't trust him! I just worry about him."

"Worrying for him in this particular sense is a sign of lack of trust," Metaknight stated in a flat tone only to add to his word game.

Fumu had not realized she walked into a word game of Metaknight's boredom and continued to play into it further. "No it's not!" she shouted in reply, insulted that he misconducted concern with lack of trust like that. She saw that his eyes were smiling, even though they weren't blatantly pink shaded like the time he was amused he was a rare and popular figurine. The hint of the color was there, and just as she was about to give him a piece of her mind, her mother had called for her.

"Fumu!"

Fumu headed over towards the door in a huff. She turned around before leaving and stated, "I know you will look out for him regardless!" and left.

"She tries too hard," Metaknight mumbled to himself in secret amusement. Even by himself he was careful to show any other signs of expression but that of his nonchalant one. He sat down in one of his chairs and looked around his room to see what he could occupy himself with now. He didn't _have_ to immediately go after Kirby, neither did he have to really pay attention to him twenty-four-seven. To him, Kirby was fine by himself, even if he was as little as two years of age, he learned quick and was already picking up new words and healthy habits of taking care of himself, Fumu was just too paranoid; not that he could really blame her for that.

Just as he yawned in more boredom, a muffled explosion was heard from below him, like it was in the lower area of the castle, and it caused his table to tremble a few centimeters from where it originally rested.

From his many years out of Popstar, and even his few _in_ Popstar, the unlikely was always the likely. It was surely Kirby.

**A/N: ****This fiction is pretty much a K+ the entire way through, but according to the guidelines, the ending seems to make it a T. Teehee. But anyways..~ ****I was always a firm believer that cliched ideas always have the possibility of becoming a nice story, it was just a matter of how it was delivered. I was given the challenge to try and make a cliched plot enjoyable and even original. I hope it'll be a success, I have a lot planned for it :P I want to try to make it feel like a sequel to the anime as well as have relation to the games. So here's hoping.  
**


	2. Jaw breaker

A large amount of Waddledees were scrambling through out Metaknight's path. Some were going downstairs, while some where running upstairs; they were in a frenzy. The calm knight didn't take this as any indicator on the level of damage because Waddledees were timid by nature and this response was only natural. He calmly continued his way to his destination, his armor making heavy clicking noises that echoed through the empty halls. He felt the heat source and readied his cape so he would be prepared to shield himself if needed. When he made it to the accident, it was already being taken care of by Kirby. A crown donned the top of his head with a flame firmly kept inside of the crown.

The little fellow was blowing a tiny torch over the damaged pipes, forming them back in shape, even if they were a little smaller now than before. Two braver Waddledees were finding metal pieces to help Kirby patch up the hole, while another Waddledee was rubbing his hide on the ground. As Metaknight observed the situation, he could only assume that Kirby saved the Waddledee aching on the ground from a dangerous situation and was now just cleaning up the best that he could. He couldn't ask the dees, only Waddledoo understood them, and Kirby still couldn't string sentences very well. Once things were patched up , the dees and Kirby were patting their hands together in praise and satisfaction.

Metaknight stepped forward, his armor spoke for him in terms of getting their attention. Kirby grinned and waved, and to put the sugar on top of his already cheerful greeting, he exclaimed, "Hi, Metaknight!"

Metaknight nodded and replied, "Hello."

To most, the knight would've came off as disinterested, but Kirby understood perfectly fine and still had a cheek-to-cheek grin. The fire on his head faded out like a rough wind had blown by, and the crown glowed until it was no more, bringing the puff back to his pinkest shade. Kirby's surprised expression caused Metaknight to turn around in response to see the Waddledoo and a few other still fear stricken Waddledees behind him.

"What happened here?" He asked as he scratched the top of his head. The little dees explained to him as they all appreciatively patted Kirby on the head. When he was done taking in the information, he turned to Metaknight and explained, "Apparently, there was a bust in the pipe and one of them got stuck. Another got Kirby here to inhale him out because they couldn't pull him out, and just as that happened it exploded. Then they proceeded to fix it together, and it looks like they did a pretty fine job for the time being..."

"I see, good that no one was hurt," Metaknight stated as he turned to leave. Immediately, Kirby followed after him. He walked up the stairs and still, the little pink resident followed him. Metaknight paused suddenly and asked, "Are you following me?"

"Yes?" Kirby answered.

The knight's smile was small but was unseen due to the mask. He replied, "Alright," to not confuse Kirby and continued walking back to his quarters. Once he made it to his room, he parked himself right where he was before and grabbed a book to read. The room was still without Blade and Sword; the two were often very bored without any mischief going on and always wandered around Pupuland now days. As he turned a page, he heard something being pulled from his shelf. Immediately, he placed the book down with a rough land and shot Kirby a glare.

Kirby returned the glare, but it was far too cute to be threatening. He had his little flaps wrapped around a glass jar filled to the brim with candy. The stare down didn't let up one bit, those candies belonged to Metaknight Kirby could tell, but he also wanted them as well. His tiny hand reached to the top of the jar, and as he slowly peeled the plastic top off, the bigger warrior stood up immediately. Kirby's bottom lip puckered up fiercely, and his eyebrows furrowed to show he was willing to butt heads for this, even if it wasn't his.

"Are you challenging me?" Metaknight questioned just a little aggressively as he paced his way to the little puff. "We're going to be fair about this, and don't _dare_ inhale the jar whole while I'm talking, Kirby." Kirby grumbled as he put the jar back up. He showed in his eyes that he was willing to duel him for that jar of candy and nodded to make a safer confirmation. "Fine then," the knight replied to his gesture and grabbed a sword for the growing warrior.

Kirby swallowed the sword and transformed into Sword Kirby. He quickly followed the knight, the two not talking to each other due to the tension for the jar of candy. In the court yard, Metaknight distanced himself greatly from his young challenger and withdrew his sword. Kirby pointed his sword at the veteran warrior and nodded. He decided he was not going to make the first move, but showed he had grown confident of his swordsmanship over time. He may have not had many years as Metaknight, but he had determination and the power of endless hunger on his side. What Kirby didn't know, was that Metaknight's appetite, especially for sweet things, was almost identical to his, hence the challenge taking place.

Metaknight had patience on his side. He knew that Kirby would grow impatient, especially with his power of hunger. All he had to do was wait for the little star warrior to attack, and due to impatience, he did. He defended and made sure that the swords would clang loudly, loud noises still effected Kirby's immature hearing. The little Warrior was dazed by the noise and Metaknight took this as the opportunity to bat him away with the Galaxia sword. He was never soft with Kirby when it came to training, and especially with duels. Kirby was fiercer than usual and struck at him again, this time ignoring the loud clashing of the swords.

Metaknight swung under him for a counter-attack, but Kirby had wisened up and managed to buck his mask with the hilt of his sword. Metaknight stumbled back in slight shock that Kirby managed to aim for his face like that, a part of him he protected most. During that stunned moment, Kirby struck him again, knocking him back a few meters. The skillful knight corrected himself in the air and dived at Kirby like an eagle with his precision. Kirby had to use both arms to defend, and reflect against his weight and his strength. He managed to escape the pressure and side-stepped to trick his foe and aimed for the shoulder pad. The pad was either not as sturdy as it looked, or Kirby had a bit of a punch not even he knew he had.

Metaknight eyes flashed white in surprise that Kirby managed to break off a piece of his armor like that. He tackled Kirby with his remaining shoulder blade but Kirby was quick on his toes and managed to recollect him self and slash upward. Metaknight was lifted into the air by the force and upon his landing, his mask had broken apart into two. He groaned and sat up, things had not settled in for him yet until he touched his bare face with his also bare right hand. He was terrifically stunned, and bordering flustered. He heard Kirby's sword fall into the grass and a curious, "Ooh?" from his pink and smaller counter part. He couldn't remove his bigger flap of a hand from his face, he wasn't used to being seen.

"Agh..." was all he managed to utter out. His hand was nearly glued to his face now, and just was he was about to wrap up into his dimensional cape to get out of sight for a few moments...

"You gotta be kidding me! All this time you were a blue one?!"

And with a heavy sigh, his blue hand identical to Kirby's fell from his face and into the grass he clutched to channel how flustered he was. King Dedede of all people had to see him without his mask and a missing glove.

"Woah. Sir...?"

Blade and Sword too.


	3. Whole

"So these past two years you've been lying??" Dedede asked in an incriminating tone.

"I was more discreet than lying," Metaknight answered. He wasn't directly facing Dedede, but instead he was facing Kirby who looked curious and over joyed by the unmasked knight. The little pink puff was usually joyful, but he was more excited than usual by the size of his grin and the sheen in his eyes.

King Dedede however, was very displeased and even somewhat disgusted that _two_ 'marshmallows' were in his kingdom now, one he even gave semi-respect to, even! He crossed his arms and sneered, "What do you have to say for yourself before I kick you out? That Kirby really was your relative?"

Sword and Blade were obviously against this. The sheer shock of Dedede even suggesting that he get rid of Metaknight, his strongest warrior, was utterly shocking. The king and the knight had no qualms until...well, now. They were so shocked that they could not vocalize their confusion or disagreement. Metakanight understood, but before he answered, he thought, "Even if I were to say 'no', or anything other than a 'yes', he would still make a scene." After his thought to himself, he sighed, "No, he is not." It was an honest answer. Somewhat.

"Hah! Still lying until the end, eh Metaknight?! I should've known with your shortness and how round you were! And how you was always helping out that little pink fluff!"

Metaknight rolled his silver eyes at the 'king' yacking away his usual nonsense. "Okay, sire, if you _really_ want me out there," The surprisingly adorable knight replied in sarcasm as he stood up. This was Dedede here, he would be able to turn this situation around easier than he could blink.

"Darn right. I already dislike a pink one, I'm goin' to dislike a blue one too!"

As Metaknight dusted himself off, he replied, "Alright, I'll be a wanderer most likely. Wandering out there with all of your secrets." His tone was somewhat light and casual as he said this. He looked up at Dedede to lock his sharp silver eyes into the king's blue eyes that were already showing discomfort. "No one knows you like I do. Not even Escargon," he stated drly. His stare was nonchalant, as was his posture. Not that he would really do this to the penguin who was usually terrible to everyone but himself, but he couldn't help but play with this, especially for his prejudice against his species. He didn't get a verbal response from the king, but he could see his discomfort and fear as clear as day.

He did his best to hide his smirk as he continued on slyly, "But alright. I'll get my things ready if that's what you desire."

"Really?" Kirby asked with a confused frown. He didn't entirely understand the situation in hand, but it felt really bad to him.

"Sir Metaknight..!" Sword managed to cough out. He couldn't believe this was happening and had no idea where he would be without Metaknight around. Him and Blade were feeling a strong sense of sorrow and even a little regret that they didn't hang around the knight much these days, and now he would be gone because of Dedede.

"Really," he answered Kirby. Metaknight was extremely amused by everyone. There was one plus side with not having his mask on, it was hard to tell the color change of his eyes without it on, not that anyone really understood the colors. His eyes were shifting to pink yet again today at how much of a success his word games had in a single day. Something about stringing emotions so simply was strangely humorous to him. "Let's go, Kirby," he stated and began to make his slow leave.

"Okay!"

Dedede grumbled lowly, "Nevermind..." The large ruler felt like he was surrendering his ego to the kind he hated. But in his knowledge and in the long run, it was better than him blabbering his secrets to the world.

"What was that, your majes—I mean, Dedede?"

"Nevermind!" He shouted and stormed away. He was flustered and was now surely going to plot his revenge for later.

"Oh, how pleasant," Metaknight stated and let a smile sneak up on him. While Sword and Blade were laughing at the turn of events on Dedede, Metaknight took this as a chance for his leave. Kirby's small size and almost nonexistent weight made his excited steps near inaudible, and the soft grass helped this. Metaknight was pleased that he was able to silently get away and back to his room just fine. He didn't know that Kirby had his broken mask with him, until he caught him at the corner of his eye. "What do you have that for?" Metaknight asked as he headed for the table.

Kirby held up the two halves and murmured, "Sorry." He accented his sincerest apologies with a frown and eyes that twinkled and shimmered.

"Oh, it's alright. We dueled and I lost...along with my mask. You've won fair and square, so you can have the candy," Metaknight replied and grabbed the book he's been wanting to read for quite awhile now.

Kirby hurriedly opened the shelf and found the prized candy of colorful jaw breakers. Normal people would had have to dissolve them slowly, but Kirby was able to, and wanted to inhale them whole. When he popped the cap off, he admired them as a feeling of slight remorse came. He thought about Metaknight's words of 'fairness' and Fumu teaching him about halves and wholes. Kirby smiled as he pulled the jar out of the shelf and sat across from Metaknight. He inhaled the candies until the jar was half empty and passed the jar to his mentor gleefully.

"What is it?" Metaknight asked.

"Sharing!" Kirby answered and shoved the jar into his blue flaps. For a brief moment, Kirby was able to feel that Metaknight felt just like he did; squishy and very warm. He giggled when Metaknight shifted away from him, though he didn't get why he did. He was feeling a pleasant emotion that he didn't know what, just that he felt very full.

Kirby may have not understood why he was feeling the way he was, but Metaknight already had a clear idea; the kid no longer felt alone in a special sense. He remembered how Kirby would longingly watch the cappy kids and adults communicate naturally, and how similar Lololo and Lalala were to one another, but there was none like himself. Metaknight wish he had felt the same, but instead, he felt awkward and embarrassed. If only he were a little more carefree and had it a little more easy going like Kirby. Residents already expected him to be cute, but not the mysterious knight. Even though he never aimed to be mysterious in the first place.

He liked the popularity he had, but he wouldn't like the spotlight.

Or the rumors.

Or the gossip.

Or the awkward questions.

Metaknight groaned and subconsciously dipped the jaw over his hand to cup some candies to eat, but they rolled off his ungloved hand.

"Right." Metaknight flatly said and held the urge to palm his face. As expected, Kirby inhaled the fallen pieces without out qualms. But what the bothered knight didn't expect was a nudge from the smaller puff. He gave him his attention with a confused expression. Kirby smiled and then demonstrated a light inhale and pointed to Metaknight shortly afterwards. Metaknight placed the jar on the table and answered, "...I rather not."

"Why?" Kirby asked innocently.

"I just rather not," he answered and opened his book. Kirby angrily huffed and disappointedly turned away until his friendly blue eyes spotted the broken mask he forgotten he brought back here. He headed over to the mask and picked them up. Metaknight was slightly disturbed by the sudden noises and asked from behind his book, "Kirby? What are you doing?"

Kirby ate both of the pieces without answering, and surprisingly, he transformed from it. When his glow faded, he was like a miniature and pink Metaknight. The only difference was that the color of his eyes behind the mask was green. "Puyo..." Kirby murmured in confusion.

Metaknight was bewildered that Kirby had managed to copy him; he even had the cape. Instead of the Galaxia sword, he had a regular sword that was golden colored. It had no aura or significance to it, however.

"Interesting..." Metaknight thought aloud. Metaknight continued to observe Kirby who seemed like he was trying to take the mask off, but he could not. "It can't come off?"

"No..." Kirby whined as he continued to try and take the mask off, but it stayed put like it was apart of him.

"Let's see..." Metaknight said as he gripped the mask, he tried pulling at it gently, but it indeed was stuck to Kirby's face. "I...can't help but find this a little funny,"

"Puyo!!" Kirby angrily grumbled and continued to try and peel the mask off. He was getting even more frustrated by Metaknight's chuckling.

"Kirby, concentrate and focus it away," Metaknight instructed in a gentle tone. He watched Kirby sit down and listened to his adorable hums of concentration. Kirby was getting better at the concentrating thing, he no longer had to sleep to do it. The mask glowed and peeled right off, and when it hit the floor, it was a solid mask "There, you did it," The wise knight stated and picked up the mask. "I figured this was what you were trying to do, but you've never done it before, I can tell. You were acting on instincts," Metaknight said and examined his mask that felt and looked as if it were brand new and never broke. Before he put his mask on, he treated the puff with a quick smile and _then_ put his mask back on. To make sure the growing warrior wouldn't forget his manners, he said, "Thank you."

"Welcome!" Kirby replied happily. Shortly after, he reached for the jar and ate it whole.

"I...I thought you were sharing."


	4. Another pink blob

Having Kirby over for the first night wasn't bad at all. The little guest went to sleep instantly and was surprisingly a quiet rester; and by the time the sun rose up, Kirby was outside and playing with the other children. It was somewhat disturbing that Dedede hadn't tried anything because it was almost too peaceful; at least for Sword knight and Blade knight, t_he two of them were so bored_. Blade knight sighed, "I thought things would get more interesting with Kirby here, but..."

"What do you mean? Seeing Sir Metaknight's face was incredible!" Sword knight exclaimed as he shook some sense into Blade.

"It wasn't _that_ interesting!" Blade answered in an irate manner from being shaken. He wriggled out of Sword's hold and crossed his arms.

"He's...pretty much a bigger blue Kirby!"

"...Yeah, so?"

"You're just trying really hard to be nonchalant about things."

Blade shrugged and said, "No..." He then explained, "Yeah, it's surprising that he's a 'bigger blue Kirby', but he's still our leader so I don't see the overt deal."

"_He had rosy cheeks_," Sword stated and tapped the sides of Blade's full-headed helmet. "And he had big round eyes...and..."

Blade groaned, "And?"

"That's just so adorable..." he answered in a higher pitched than usual tone. Sword really found his leader _adorable_, and along with that, he saw him in a brand new light.

A light that Blade wasn't appreciating.

"Uh, woah there, buddy... This is _Metaknight_ you're talking about..."

"Do you think he has an appetite like Kirby's?"

"Kirby inhales fields of watermelons, I really doubt it," Blade answered, his arms still firmly crossed.

"Mm...right. But those jars of candy really do fly by..." Sword said as he twirled the hair that hung at the back of his helmet.

"What? Really? I always thought that same jar just stuck around--"

"No, you can tell the difference from the cap of the jar!" Sword explained.

"W-why do you notice those things..?"

Blade shrugged and replied, "I unno. But anyway!! Do you think he can float around with puffed up cheeks like Kirby?"

"I, uh...maybe?"

"Blade, why don't you ever question or think about things?"

"There's just some things you don't think about, that's why!" Blade retorted angrily. He was flustered by how awkward this conversation was and how absolutely stupid Sword was being in general. He was just about ready to leave and get a meal to cool him off.

"For all you know, he could even be more huggable than Kirby!"

Blade groaned and turned to leave, but just as he was about to storm off he saw Metaknight who was standing deathly still, and with that mask on, there was no telling what he was thinking or feeling. Blade just prayed that he did not hear Sword's blabber.

–

Kirby separated from the boys when they got too rough for him, and the girls were around flowers that made him sneeze. He was lonely and bored, and all that he could think about was Fumu and Lololo&Lalala. He got along with them most, especially the floaty twins. Now there was Metaknight whose unmasked face appeared in his memory incredibly clearly. He grinned until he realized that his senior wasn't really one to play, Kirby sighed and kept walking through the fields. He wanted to be somewhere just a little secluded because he worried about Dedede, and for once did not feel like being bothered by the scheming dictator.

The spring breeze was very nice and relaxing even if it had a bit of strength in it. As Kirby looked up at the clear blue sky and saw green leaves twirling about, he got an idea. He took a deep breath and lifted up into the air like a balloon and drifted south. If he could smile right now, he would, but smiling on the inside was enough for him, until he looked below and saw that someone looked interesting. That someone donned a large red ribbon on their head and was just as pink as he was. Kirby exhaled and excitedly ran towards the fellow pink creature and cheered, "Hi!"

The girl was surprised and turned around to the direction of the tiny voice. She straightened out her large red bow with her two stretchy pink limbs before she smiled and replied, "Hello! Who are you?"

"Kirby!" He greeted and proudly gave himself a pat on the chest.

"I'm Chuchu, and I'm not from here, but I figured you know that..." She saw that Kirby nodded, and he was still friendly regardless. "I'm from a neighboring country, and some of my other friends are migrating here too...but I can't show myself to them until I find something important that blew away out of my ribbon..." Chuchu explained. She sighed, "I'm the youngest and I don't want to be given a hard time and suddenly trusted even less with things! I try..!"

Kirby understood Chuchu to an extent, but he couldn't voice it very well. He gave her a reassuring pat and pointed ahead to the distant open fields.

"Let's go!"

"You're going to help me find it?" She asked as her teal eyes glistened with appreciation. Kirby nodded and she smiled in response. Just as the helpful and friendly puff was walking away, she wrapped one of her arms around his stubby hand and said, "I er...move kinda slow. I was...admittedly using the wind to get by and that's how the accident occurred," her cheeks were red with embarrassment at admitting her mistakes. She always tried very hard to be responsible and reliable so that she would be taken a little more seriously.

Kirby turned around and picked up Chuchu. She surprised him with a bit of weight that she had, especially compared to him. He was confused of Chuchu's flustered expression and placed her down onto the grass again and said, "Huh?"

"What about...I sit on top of your head instead?" She suggested sheepishly.

"Okay," Kirby replied and placed her on top of his head. Once on his head, she morphed into a rounder shape on his head. As Kirby looked up in slight confusion, Chuchu began to slip off of him until he grabbed a hold of her arms.

"Y-you'll get used to it! Please don't mind too much..!" She stuttered nervously. She usually didn't ride atop of just anyone, but she was in a bit of a fix at the very moment.

"Puyo..." Kirby murmured in a pleasant manner. His eyes gotten lazy-like and he had a relaxed smile on his face. After she settled down on his head a second time, she turned out to be very warm.

"W-what?"

"Very warm," Kirby answered and walked on ahead with a cheery whistle.

Chuchu covered her face embarrassed beyond belief.

–

A group of travelers have wandered into a very large field of sheep. The artist of the diverse group of travelers was scratching her fingers against her right side bag that had her art tools. She exclaimed, "Oh, this scenery is so peaceful and beautiful...I want to take a break and paint!"

A little green canary parked itself on top of the artist's barret and said, "But we're surely close to a town by now. There's sheep here, Ado..."

"Yes, so maybe you guys can go on without me? I'll be waiting for Chuchu, anyway~ She's bound to wind up here following the dirt road," she replied as she dug around in her bag and sat on the grass. She missed the fresh smell and color of new grass...

A fat cat walked past and yawned, "She's just finding an excuse to yawn—I mean, draw..."

"I know..." the green bird replied to the large spotted cat and flew off of Ado's hat. "But looking around more could be good, especially how my mother went to look for Chuchu. I just don't like us splitting up so much in foreign lands like this."

The cat stretched and yawned once more. He laid out on the grass and mumbled, "I bet things will be fine here. It's really peaceful, and all the kinds of flowers I smell surely makes me sleepy."

"Oh, you're not about to stop too, Nago??" The bird squawked in distress. "I'm starving and want some civilization..!" Usually the small green bird was quiet and to himself, but with all the disorder and chaos happening as of late, he had quite a few feathers ruffled.

"Hey, you can always fly off, you know. You're a quick one..." Nago stated and stretched out. He wasn't one to curl up to sleep like most cats, he rather lie around stretched out.

The bird turned to Ado who was in her own little bubble. He sighed followed the dirt road as he flew very quickly. Amidst his speeding, he bumped into a yellow bird that angrily squawked. "I-I'm sorry!"

"You better be sorry, you reckless kid! This is Tokkori you're bumping into!"

"E-er...I'm Pitch."

"I didn't ask!"

"I'm just getting it out there!" Pitch cried. The other bird was scary and vicious by just a simple accident. He managed to look past his scary expression and ask, "Have you seen my friend? Pink and red mostly!"

"Eh? You mean Kirby? How do you know Kirby?" He huffed and folded his wings questioningly.

"Huh? I don't know a Kirby...the person I described is named Chuchu..."

"The only pink and red person I see and know is a blob named Kirby!"

"Chuchu is a blob too...that's strange..."

"Oh geeze, like we need two pink blobs inhaling things! I'm going to go warn the residents!"

"Inhaling things? Chuchu doesn't inhale things! She is a picky eater as it is!" Pitch hurriedly explained. It sounded like the bird was putting his friend in an incriminating light. "T-there's no reason to warn anything, Tokkori!"

"Shaddup! You're in cahoots with that blob I bets!"

"Please listen to me, Mr Tokkori!!"

"Don't call me 'Mr'!"

.-.-.

After the chase and yell match, Tokkori and Pitch were both very tired once they made it into town. They were both parked up in a tree at the square and were panting tiredly. Tokkori was trying to push Pitch out of the tree, but the younger green bird was still sturdier and heavier than he was.

"Tokkori? You looked wiped," Mayor Len said. He was walking by until he took notice of Tokkori and another bird up high in the tree. "Oh, do we have another new visitor?"

"I'm warnin' ya mayor! This green guy knows another pink and red blob on the loose!"

"There's nothing to warn about! Chuchu is just a young girl!"

"And Kirby's is a young guy and still can strike up a storm you know!"

"Chuchu can't strike up a storm! Can you please stop shouting assumptions and listen to me?!" Pitch hollered defensively to shut up Tokkori, which he did. Pitch took a few breathers and explained to the mayor, "We hope that you do not mind, but, a lot of us are migrating from a kidna far land...So I'm not surprised there are prior visitors before myself. I also have a artist girl at the sheep field painting, and a fat and lazy cat sleeping next to her. Besides those two and me, our friend Chuchu got blown away by the wind and we lost track of her! My mom is looking for her as we speak but more help would be great! All we want is a new home..."

"Woah...calm down, little guy. We're very easy going people, no need to worry about anything. If you all are in dire need we don't mind lending a hand or a space to live. You just rest up in that tree and I'll go send a report to some forces at the castle," the kind mayor replied and hurried off.

Pitch sighed in relief and sat in the tree with less stress on himself, even if Tokkori was occasionally still trying to push him out of the tree.

.-.-.

After the incredibly awkward situation with his subordinates Sword and Blade, Metaknight was in his room reading a new book. He was growing to become very stressed and disturbed by the idea of his identity spreading around. If Sword could blabber like that, he could only imagine the kind of revenge or blackmail that Dedede had in store for him. He sighed heavily and palmed his rightfully masked face, he lost all will to read just thinking about it. His face was covered up for so long it became just who he was, even to himself, just something about being seen was gravely disturbing.

"Well, I have plenty of time to sort out my thoughts and feelings on the matter..." he thought aloud. A knock on his door instead told him he didn't have the time to sort things out with himself. He got up from the chair and opened his door to see Waddledoo saluting him. He asked,"What is it?"

"Well, there's a missing report flying around. A pink and red colored blob is missing and isn't a resident here. Some people are freakin' out, while some are curious if it's another visitor like Kirby. They want you to investigate and look."

"...Another 'blob'?" Metaknight questioned _just_ to make sure. If there was possibly another out there, he would be pleased and amazed. But on the other hand, he hoped it wasn't another baby, that would be quite the handful.

"Yup. If it's another one like Kirby, haha...I wonder if we'd go through a food shortage!" Waddledoo chuckled. Metaknight did not, and to cover up the awkward air he quickly added, "I er... could send some Waddledees to broaden the search."

"Alright," Metaknight replied and walked past Waddledoo.

"Don't worry about it! I just heard some uh...things from Sword and thought you'd want to be around silent dees instead."

Metaknight felt like he was struck by a lightning bolt, but he managed to keep walking on ahead. He just told himself in his mind, "There is _nothing_ to worry about. None..."


	5. Large quantity 1

As usual, King Dedede was oblivious to the events occurring in Pupuland unless he was the one causing them. He was more concerned with how he had _two_ marshmallows under his royal bricks.

"This really grates my nerves, Escargon!" He yelled and slammed his fist down on the arm rest of his throne. "And there's nothing I can do about it!"

"Can't you just deal with it, sire?" Escargon asked while resisting to groan and roll his eyes.

"No! what annoys me more is that they're so small but yet they're stupidly powerful!" He continued to yell so loudly that he could give a flock of Waddledees a headache for days.

Escargon, however, was fairly used to Dedede's yelling by now. He sighed,"I stopped questioning things the day Kirby was stated to be a baby."

"No! I'm not going to surrender to those tiny marshmallows! I'm going to do something! And I'm going to do so by wishing on a star!"

"Sir, you can't be serio--"

"I am very serious! You go demand that telescope from Curio so we can scout the perfect star and wish on it!" Dedede yelled and thrashed around in his throne room. He was able to jump pretty high, and the height combined with his weight caused a tremor every time he landed.

Escargon may have been used to Dedede's yelling, but he still wasn't used to his tantrums that had the power to shake rooms. He likely never would be used to them and hated those tantrums above all else. "I-I'll get the telescope right away, your majesty!!" Escargon wailed and hurried out of the room in a fearful fuss.

Satisfied with his order being carried out, Dedede sat back into his throne and clicked the tv on as if a tantrum never took place.

–

"You-oy!" Kirby cheered happily as he ran through the vast grass fields to the rocky areas. He had a hunch that whatever Chuchu was looking for wound up here.

"K-Kirby, are you sure it'd be this far away?"

"Yes!" Kirby answered and hopped down rock pillar after rock pillar. These past few years, he grew very agile at scaling places and simply getting around with ease. He still wasn't on the levels of Metaknight, but he hoped and worked hard to be like that. He spotted something glittering from a distance, and just as he was going to go grab it, a _large _blue furred animal popped out of the ground and the glittering red gem lodged itself into the blue animal's eye. Kirby winced at the sight and Chuchu's shrieking caused Kirby to wince yet again.

Kirby watched in curiosity at how the animal grew even _larger_ in size, it was the biggest he seen a gao gao be; he'd know, he usually ate them when he ran into them. His stomach growled from that after thought and with a conclusion of his decisions, he put Chuchu aside so that she would be safe behind a large boulder.

"Stay," he instructed and charged on ahead. Though the large beast was flailing around and howling, Kirby wasn't afraid. He inhaled the broken boulder pieces and spit them back at the over sized Gao gao. He had to jump around very often because the large blue beast not only had range, it was pretty much boosted in every way possible. Speed, power, rage... It was going to be a really long battle he can tell. With how fast the Gao gao was, there was no way that copying rocks would be effective. He braced for the endurance of spitting back whatever it tossed at him.

Chuchu occasionally peaked from behind the large boulder Kirby placed her behind. She was very amazed how Kirby was keeping up and fighting with the big blue animal she deemed a monster. She wanted to cheer her new friend and hero on, but she was afraid it would draw attention to her. Just as she moved behind the rock again, she heard a noise above her. She shrieked and covered her eyes, not wanting to see the blow if it was going to hit her, but nothing came. When she opened her eyes and looked up, she saw a midnight blue cape flowing in the wind.

"You'll get used to it," the cloaked figure stated without turning around.

"Huh??" Chuchu asked and failed to get a response. He overwhelmed her curiosity in her young age, and caused her to ignore her fear and climb up in view. He was rounded and masked, and he was intently staring at the battle scene. Chuchu was compelled by the mysterious puff and worried for her friend as well. She noticed that the blue colored knight was armed and asked, "Why wont you help Kirby??"

"Patience..." He replied and kept observing the scene. He didn't like interfering with battles unless absolutely necessary. From the looks of things, the Gao gao was under the influence of something. He tightened his grip on Galaxia before he called out, "Kirby! Here!"

Kirby turned around and saw that there was a miniature sword beam flowing his way. He knew the deal and inhaled it. The impact, even in his tummy, was very strong and pushed him into the air. It wasn't a problem for Kirby, the surge of power was rather energizing. He donned his jester cap along with his scepter and was ready to get this whipped into order. He whipped the claws right out of the socket of the Gao gao when it tried to slash at him. In excruciating pain it slammed its declawed paws around on the ground causing massive tremors.

Not even Metaknight could keep his balance one-hundred-percent, but he did land okay.

"Your beam ability has gotten stronger..." he mused aloud.

"Beam ability..?" Chuchu questioned aloud and kept watching the dazzling whip that was pulverizing the beast quite stylishly.

While the beast was dazed, Kirby took the time to charge up plenty of energy into the scepter and aimed to fire the blast at the glistening spot on its forehead. He growled, "Beam...Blast!!" He stumbled and fell onto his back from how much energy he placed into that beam. The energy ball was very huge, and once it came into contact with the blue animal's forehead, the end results weren't very pleasant. Most of what flew and fell sizzled up from the hot energy to luckily avoid a huge mess.

Metaknight immediately hurried to the scene and to Kirby who was under a few rocks. He tossed them aside and saw the tired and injured child warrior.

"Kirby?" He called gently to check for consciousness.

"Puyo..." He answered with a tired sigh. He frowned at the pain and exhaustion he was feeling, and even hunger too. Before he drifted away, the sound of Chuchu's voice reminded him of something.

"Drop..! R-rainbow drop..!"

"Rainbow... drop..?" Metaknight questioned. He gently shook Kirby to stop him from sleeping to get an answer of out of him. All Kirby did was point to the Gao gao before he turned over and slept. Metaknight pulled Kirby out of the debris and carried him on his back over to the fallen beast. He _could_ feel some strange energy the further he explored the monster. He made it to the unsightly after-math of its head and saw that there was something glittering there. He hesitated greatly grabbing for it. Behind his mask, his face was soured with disgust that he was going to have to go in and get whatever it was the kids were looking for out of there.

He had a feeling he had to, not just because they were looking for something, because if it were just that, he'd walk away. Whatever was glittering in there probably mutated the animal, and the last thing anyone needed was another mutated animal on the loose from eating the carcass. He gulped and reached in and shuddered as he felt around, even if his hand was gloved. He grabbed two pieces of jewelery and stepped back and shook the unwanted gunk off of his hand. When he looked at the palm of his hands, there were two medium sized crystals, one was red and the other was a jade color.

The more he stared at them, the more he could feel that something was off about them.

They felt tainted on the inside.


	6. Large qauntity 2 Filling!

**A/N: This is a very long and special chapter, a whopping _eight pages!_ At first...my computer deleted everything and I was strongly discouraged until I got supported by a awesome friend. (;D)Now here it is! The reason it's so long is because I won't be able to write it for awhile, I'm going to be gone for a few days. (Woo a mini vacation of sorts to a water park and out of state and etc) I worked hard to get this out before I left, so I hope you guys enjoy and review. :)**

Metaknight felt somewhat ridiculous that he was carrying both Kirby and Chuchu, though Chuchu resided on top of Kirby's head. It wouldn't be like this for too long, since he would drop Chuchu off with her friends and bring Kirby back to the castle for a quick rest. It was only early in the afternoon and he couldn't possibly sleep the whole day away...He sighed at the slight irony of this whole "another blob" situation. Giving how both were pink and red and were on the top of his round head.

Kirby was snoring softly, the tiny pink marshmallow adjusted his position in his sleep, trying to get a bit more comfortable. Despite the fact of being carried, it wasn't that hard to snuggle deeper and tug on a part of the elder one's cape to try and wrap it around himself. He mumbled, "Rainbow drop," once more, the nagging thought still bothering him. He felt Chuchu's body on his own, but it wasn't much of a bother. She was extremely light weight, after all.

Metaknight still had both the ruby and jade drops in his right hand. He kept them tightly in his grip as he thought about what he was going to do with these tainted jewels. It looks like he was going to have to do a lot of trafficking today. To the town, to the castle, to Kabu to talk about these jewels...

"Great. Peace can't last forever."

One of Kirby's eyes cracked open at Metaknight's voice, but he closed it quickly, making sure that he wouldn't be found out. He was still kind of exhausted after the battle, both mentally and physically, so what hurt would it do to just stay put with his mentor?

Chuchu was unaware of Kirby peaking an eye opened. She was fixated with Metaknight's comment.

"It's...not because of us, is it? My friends and me, I mean..." Chuchu asked very sullenly.

Metaknight winced, but lightly enough that his balance was not faltered. He didn't mean to place blame on anyone, especially harmless kids or others trying to survive whatever is taking place. He knew full well what it was like having to migrate desperately to survive.

"No, I'm not blaming anyone, I just I feel something bad is going to happen. Don't worry, though. It'll be taken care of as best as we can handle it."

"That's great!" Chuchu exclaimed and smiled warmly. "I can already tell with Kirby's heroism"

Metaknight's eyes twinkled blue at the comment.

It was a little hard for Kirby to understand what they were talking about, but there seemed to be a lot of worry in his new friend's voice, and slight concern in Metaknight's. It must have had something to do with that beast, because in the time he was fighting him, he didn't spot Dedede once. And if the beast was the King's doing, shouldn't he have seen him at all? Deeply concentrated, he almost missed the comment from Chuchu. He had the urge to pat his chest in a proud manner and exclaim how great that made him feel. He resisted.

Making it to the grassier parts once again, the strong winds picked up. Metaknight mused aloud, "It's strange the wind picks up in this specific area...something is off."

"This is where I almost got blown away and I lost my rainbow drop in the first place..."

Just as they spoke, the wind got stronger and even Metaknight stumbled a bit. He just hoped the kids on top wouldn't get blown away.

"Try to hold on..."

Kirby could understand the command clearly enough, and tightened his grip on Metaknight's cape. He actually had to use effort, too, because he wasn't kidding when he said it was windy. He used his free hand to make sure that Chuchu wouldn't go blowing away again like last time. This was one of those moments when Metaknight hated being a very short and lightweight fellow; not to mention soft and squishy. He lugged through the windy areas, his cape blowing around insanely. He would be damned if a tornado magically spawned. He coughed at the jynx and thought aloud, "knock on wood...knock on wood..."

"Knock on wood?"

"Nothing."

He also needed to note to stop thinking aloud. Pupu land was near, and he'd be half free. The wind letting up showed this. Obviously, Kirby couldn't pretend that he was asleep anymore, even if he was known as a heavy sleeper, there was no way that he'd be able to stay sleeping in rapid winds like this. "Poy..." he muttered, fastening his secure on Chuchu.

Luckily, Pupu land was not as tornado-like, so he didn't have to struggle as much. "Meta?" he inquired, hoping to seek an answer for why it was so unnaturally bizarre in that area.

"Yes? What is it?"

He tried to search for the right words. "Strong..."

"The wind?" Metaknight asked, trying to understand Kirby.

Faltering for a moment, he paused. "Yes?" It _was_ called wind, right?

Yes, the wind is strong. I'm unsure why it is, though, it's rather...ominous"

"Ominous?" The other small child asked.

"Strange, scary, feel like something is, or will go wrong not too long from now. But again, don't worry too much."

The young warrior _did _know those words a bit too well, and let out a mumble, worried even if his mentor told him not to be. He put on a strong face, as best as he could, since he usually wasn't successful in looking anything but cute. He did so Chuchu wouldn't be frightened in any way.

"Okay...I trust you two. I just hope we can be fine in, uh...er.."

"...Pupuland. I think the name is ridiculous also, you're free to laugh."

And Chuchu did laugh. Kirby heard the laughter and joined in; so much for tough guy.

Metaknight never openly admitted these things, he did like making children laugh and be happy.

"Though the wind is a little more normal in town range...it's still windy. I'll need to investigate this later when you two are safe."

The pink puff didn't feel that was a good enough reply. He wanted to investigate, too! "Me!" he exclaimed, leaning forward to look at Metaknight upside down, a large smile on his face.

"No," he stated so simply. He felt the child on his head sigh with disappointment and immediately give in. Kirby usually did as told, even when he didn't agree, and Metaknight appreciated that. Now to train him to listening about orders on food...

.-.-.

In Pupu land, there was a crowd of people at the square. He assumed the people he did not recognize were the young girl's friends. The artist girl spotted her friend on top of another pink blob and called out, "Chuchu~!"

"Ado!" Chuchu called back and waved. She leaped off of Kirby and let the wind drift her on to the top of Ado's head.

Metaknight thought to himself, "She is the strangest thing I've seen in ages."

"Ado!" Kirby repeated, getting familiar with Chuchu's friend's name. "Aaaado! Ado!" He twirled in the air as the wind carried him over to the group. With force, he planted his feet on the ground and stood in front of Ado, safe for the time being.

Ado looked down and said, "Oh, no wonder people thought Chuchu would be similar. Same shades and--oh no, you're a slightly darker pink and your red is richer..." Kirby tilted his head, only to find himself being pushed over by the wind from doing so. His right foot lifted up from the ground and he tipped to the side. He scrambled through the air a little before crawling back to Ado. The bigger artist picked him up and held him like a pillow. "Soooft~ Hehe..." she commented and nuzzled her warm cheeks on the puff. She was very fond already.

"Poyo~" He lifted his stubby arms to hug her back to the best of his abilities. As Metaknight watched, he was reminded why he kept a mask on. This also reminded him of even his own subordinates finding him adorable. He sighed heavily at this, steering attention to himself in the process. Kirby turned to glance at Metaknight and wave one of his nubs. "Meta, Meta! Ado!" He pointed to the girl, obviously introducing the obvious.

Metaknight felt a bit of shock. He did not want a hug, he didn't want to be seen. It may have been a mild case of shyness, but it was a major case of unwanted attention regardless. He responded with a curt nod and said, "I'll be going now," and quickly left the scene.

"Awww, he was in such a hurry," Ado said aloud.

"He spontaneously comes and goes..."

The star warrior's face fell drastically, disappointed in his mentor's abrupt leaving. He mumbled as he turned back to Ado. Chuchu sat above her, and he kept a blank grin, wondering what was going to happen now. Ado rubbed her arms and commented, "Boy...it's chilly here compared to te tropics from where we're from... But we've been invited to the restaurant for a free meal! So we should totally go there!"

Kirby's face brightened. That meant they'd be going to Kawasaki's! Which meant _automatic leftovers! _"Poyo!" he yelled, jumping up and running to his friend's restaurant.

"W-woah you're a fast one!" Chuchu exclaimed. She patted Ado's cheek and pointed ahead, "Go on, hurry!"

"You got to remember we're not your personal horses," she grumbled and chased after the tiny puff.

It was a bit complicated to reach his destination, what with all the strong winds. He pointed eagerly ahead to the doorway, then ran inside. He announced his arrival with a joyful noise, spotting a bit of Kawasaki's figure in the back kitchen. Ado's nose twitched a little bit at the..._unique_ smell. She excused it as possibly foreign and seated herself. She patted Chuchu on the head and asked, "So you're not going to eat while on my head."

Chuchu huffed and hopped down and was seated in front of Kirby.

"Ah, Kirby! You're the first customer I've had all day!" Kawasaki looked over to see two new faces, growing excited. Maybe if he suddenly grew better cooking skills, he wouldn't scare them away! ... But he knew that wouldn't happen, so he figured using good hospitality and conversation would at least keep them around. "You must be the new faces in town everyone has been talking about. Where did you guys come from? The wind blow you all the way here?" he asked, laughing, as he knew _nothing _of how much that was partially true.

"Yes, actually, the wind did--My little friend, Chuchu, at least, "Ado chuckled.

Chuchu covered her face embarrassed she was put out in the open like that.

Kawasaki blinked in surprise, but shrugged nonetheless. "Well, it's nice to meet you two! I'm chef Kawasaki, so I'll whip you guys up one of the best dishes here!"

Kirby seemed pleased at this; Both Chuchu's face, and Kawasaki's announcement of the food. Ado's nose couldn't help but continuously twitch at how odd the food smelt. But she couldn't deny _too much, _she _was_ very hungry. She patted Chuchu on the head so she would stop hiding her face so much.

Chuchu's cheeks were very rosy, and seemingly, even her bow sulked.

"Poyokay!" Kirby comforted, and would have pat her on the head like Metaknight had done to him, if he could reach.

Ado covered her mouth to with-hold her squeals. Kirby was absolutely precious. Chuchu was still embarrassed but she was still trying her best to make the best of the situation. She was shy in nature so it was taking time compared to her extroverted artist friend. Kirby waited anxiously for the food, rocking side to side absent mindedly as he waited. He was rather used to Fumu continuously nagging Bun about something, or a pep talk, or a plan, or _something;_ but these two were kind of quiet, aside from Ado seemingly spazzing about something.

Ado was finding it harder to not squeal, she was still concealing it with her covered mouth. Eyes burning into the cuter pink blob before her, thinking of all the things she could draw, or _teach_ Kirby to draw.

The admired puff looked up at Ado smiling. He noticed the red cap on her head, and lifted it up. He inspected it closely, then lifted it up as if he was putting it on his head and ate in instead. Ado blinked confused, as did Chuchu, but it was so random and cute, Ado laughed. Just as Kirby began to laugh as well, Kawasaki busted through the doors carrying three plates of food. "Don't worry, there's more where that came from~" He placed them in front of them all, clapping his hands together, pleased. He knew better to stick around while they ate, though, and retreated to the kitchen.

Kirby's face lit up dramatically, and he inhaled his entire dish, making sure to resist not inhaling anyone else's food as well.

Ado's nose forewarned her right. She stared for a few moments before she took a spoon full and her face crumbled up. She tried her best not to gag and swallowed it down and took another spoon full--she was hungry, though it was so bad.

Chuchu was a picky eater in general, one dip and she didn't want it anymore.

The pink puff was used to the reactions of other people after eating his friend's food, but he never really understood why. He thought it tasted delicious, although... He thought _rocks_ tasted delicious. He saw Ado continue to eat, and maybe thought he wasn't the only one who enjoyed the food, but the sullen expression on her face kind of hinted that perhaps he was wrong. Chuchu refused to eat, though, so Kirby thought that if he took her to that patch of berries in the forest so she could get something to eat and not starve, he would be helping her. But then again, Metaknight might yell at him for going back into the forest, and he didn't really want that... Conflicted, he waited patiently for Kawasaki to return with seconds.

Ado was a strong gal and managed to eat her whole plate. The cake was a little more bearable, though it was strangely...spicy. "I had...never had a spicy cake before," She thought aloud and took another bite from being intrigued by the creativity. "That's...kinda creative."

Kawasaki immediately came out of the kitchen, eyes watering. "Y-You really think so?" He swayed away, twirling around. "Oh, I can't wait to tell Oosaka~!"

Ado had strangely..grown to enjoy spicy cake.

"I..like this spicy cake." She was so confused but kept biting into it.

Chuchu sighed. She was hungry but it wasn't worth hurting her tastes buds. This news brought Kawasaki's confidence up to one hundred percent, and he spun around once more joyfully. "I'm so glad! Someone besides Kirby actually enjoys a dish of mine!"

Once Kirby saw that everyone was finished, he inhaled everything on the table, including silverware and the table cloth.

Kawasaki sighed. "Well, at least I never have to clean up after you..." But in his happiness, he only went back into the kitchen to produce more spicy cakes. Now, only if he could remember which ingredients he used...

Kirby looked over at Chuchu, worried that she didn't get a meal. There was always going to the castle to sneak something from the kitchen, but the chances of running into Dedede were very probable. And if not him, then maybe Escargon. But he did feel like he should do _something_, so he jumped up and hopped over the table to the door. "Poyo!" Chuchu looked up and tilted her head at the other pink fellow. He opened the door with a slight struggle from the wind before it blew wide open, smacking against the side of the building. "Follow!" he yelled before exiting the restaurant and heading down the road.

Ado hurried on ahead and put Kirby in her bag. "Hope you don't mind some brushes in there..." she chuckled and carried Chuchu under her arm as well. "Where are we goin'?"

Kirby was extremely tempted to eat the brushes, but decided against it. He popped his head out of her bag and pointed towards the castle.

.-.-.-.

"Finally you got the telescope!" Dedede yelled.

"Guh, yes, your majesty. It's set up in the corridors next to your room."

"Hooray! Now if only I could control time! It'll take all day, ugh."

Escargon rolled his eyes and muttered, "Well, obviously. It isn't going to be that easy to find a shooting star..." He crossed his arms. "By the way, I'm a little curious from the weather outside. It's... Unusually windy."

"Because when I'm in a bad mood,_ Popstar_ is in a bad mood. _Entertain me, Escargon!_" Dedede stated and punted the snail assistant.

"Why are you--" He groaned. "Never mind! And why should I entertain you, I just hauled all the parts of this stupid telescope and set them up-" he ceased his rant, knowing well enough that his majesty wasn't listening at all. "Well, how would you like to be entertained, sire?"

"You're supposed to know how to entertain me!!!" He complained and pouted in his throne, being of no help as usual.

"S-Sir!" a voice peeped from the door way. Escargon turned to see that it was Waddle Doo.

"Yes, what is it?"

"While on patrol, we spotted Kirby and two new faces that we have never seen before!" He gripped his staff a bit tighter as Escargon's expression darkened. Great, this meant more tantrums from the king. "There is a small pink one like Kirby, and one that appeared to be a human."

And tantrum came.

"Another one?! Metaknight was enough as it is!!" Rage was born. Discovering Metaknight being a puffball, the weather of today, and today also being 'Kirby day', the day when everyone fondled over Kirby and praise him to no end. They would dance and sing and just be _stupid_ at that glowing fountain with that star rod he made. He rather stay home at his castle making a wish _the old fashioned way!_

"Ah, calm down, your majesty!" He turned back to Waddle Doo. "Go keep a close eye on them." The servant left the room quickly and hurried back to his station. "What do you suggest we do, sire?"

Metanight came into view. He was silent, but his stare was _hard._

Escargon was a little caught off guard upon seeing the fierce glowing eyes of the knight. He snarked, "Well, if it isn't the blue marshmallow himself~!" Metaknight was trying to conceal his blatant rage, but _gosh_ being called a marshmallow was like his rookie soldier days he thought he had escaped from. The mollusk was pleased at the reaction that emitted from Metaknight. "Anyway, what do you want? His majesty did not call you, so why are you here?"

His glowing eyes shifted to a deep orange, just about close to red, there were just some things he could not control or ignore. But he tried, "I was here about the weird weather, and how quite a number of your Waddle dees are flying around out there."

"I don't care about that! I have thousands of them anyway!"

"He's right, they multiply frequently." Escargon shrugged. "We don't know anything about the strange weather, and haven't ordered anything. Yet. So why don't you scatter along and go inhale something like Kirby does?"

If they were ready to call him a marshmallow, he was ready to call Dedede, "A disgraceful king." Two peeves were poked at. His identity and lack of leadership from Dedede. Metaknight didn't even need to withdraw his sword for a wave of energy to crack Escargon's shell with.

Escargon yelped in pain. "You- You-! You have no right to insult his majesty _or_ attack me! You're a insolent little thing, aren't you?"

Dedede was more entertained by Escargon's exposed pain, enough to ignore Metaknight's prior comment.

"How entertaining!!" He boomed as he pointed and laughed. Metaknight smirked behind his mask and left to find the kids before he wandered off back to Kabu.

"Sire, that really hurts," he pouted, eyes watering. The little bastard really knew how much his shell hurt when it was damaged, so he had to attack it. He didn't even have to touch him, either! He grit his teeth in annoyance at both Dedede and Metaknight.

"Wahaha!! You look absolutely priceless without that shell! I'm tearing up!!'

"Ughhhhh..." he muttered. "I give up..." He slinked towards the door, retreating to his room.

..-.-.-.

Kirby pointed in several directions along the way, leading the three of them into the castle kitchen to find something to eat for Chuchu. He hopped out of Ado's bag and crawled up onto the counters. There had to be _something_ in the cupboards, and if there wasn't, there must be something in the fridge. Dedede was obviously big, so he must have a lot of food stashed somewhere. He crawled onto a shelf, perfectly fitting in it, and grabbed a plate. He saw bags of potato chips and tried his hardest not to eat them right there, bag and all, and just set the plate down carefully on the counter. He jumped down and went for the fridge, finding a baked chicken, probably for tonight's dinner. Face lighting up, he took it out and lifted it up onto the counter again, along with himself. He put it in the microwave and let it warm, while going back to the fridge.

That's when he spied them.

Watermelons.

"P-Poyo~!" he cried, inhaling the three.

Metaknight couldn't help but face palm that Kirby had eaten the Watermelons. What a day of mishaps he was having.

"Those were for later, Kirby"

Kirby licked his lips and tilted his head as he turned to the appeared Metaknight. How the heck did he do that? "Huh?"

"For tomorrow, when you worked for them. But now you ate them, and I told you not to open fridges and eat things."

He did not remember such a command. "No." Then, he scurried over to the unmoving microwave and pointed to it. "Chuchu!"

"Watermelons too?"

Almost shamefully, he looked down. "N-No..." he repeated.

Not even Metaknight could keep his irritability from Escargon and Dedede, neither his frustration from Kirby eating everything up for long, especially when the little child was looking down and pouting like that. He sighed softly and patted him on the head and said, "Just try not to do that again, alright? I'll let it go for now."

Escargon cackled from the kitchen door way. "Oh god, look, your majesty! He's such a softie!" he chided, nudging Dedede with much humor. He didn't realize how much he was pushing his luck. And he just got back from Yabui with his shell repaired, too...

Chuchu picked up an apple and tossed it at Escargon's head.

"Ack!" He stumbled backwards from being caught off-guard, then held his throbbing head. "Why does everyone go after _me_?!" he spat, hiding behind Dedede. "You aren't even supposed to be here!"

Dedede was laughing heartily like a five year old when cartoon characters were subjected to physical misfortune until he noticed that his chicken was being handed out far too early.

"What's this? My baked dinner?"

Escargon peeked over to see the the chicken. "It appears to still be cold, sire."

He huffed and grumbled, "Well, looking at it now I'm starving. Someone fix it," he mumbled and walked away. "And, Kirby, you better not eat it!" He shouted from a distance.

Metaknight pretty much looked at Escargon and dragged Kirby and Chuchu out. No way were they going to. The snail ran after Dedede, while Kirby struggled against Metaknight's grip.

"Chi-Chicken! Chuchu-!" he whined, trying to reach for the poultry. What was she going to eat if she didn't have this? He didn't think that starving wasn't going to do any justice. He chomped down on Metaknight's fist, hoping this would cause him to release hold.

To bad he didn't have any teeth.

Nope, Metaknight's magical gloves were thick. He instead looked down and gave him a questioning stare.

"I'm hungry..." Chuchu honestly answered for Kirby.

Metaknight looked back into the kitchen and then back at the little blob on Kirby's head. He sighed because he knew he would regret this later, but...

"Alright, go ahead... I'll think of something." he muttered and wandered off yet again.

Kirby made a noise of approval and went back over to the chicken, poking it. It looked edible! He pushed the plate to Chuchu, a grin on his face.

Ado had helplessly followed after Metaknight, finding him adorable regardless of all that heavy armor on him.

Chuchu grinned and ripped a leg off the chicken and took a bite out of it. It was waaaay better than Kawasaki's food could ever be. Kirby snuck back over to the fridge, now that Metaknight was gone, and searched for a potential snack. Unfortunately, there were no watermelons, so he settled on some other fruit.

Chuchu said in between bites, "Hey, you're not supposed to snack in the fridge, Kirby." What Metaknight doesn't know wont hurt him! To assure Chuchu of this, he just put on a smile and sat down across from her at the table. "Kirby, H-he knows everything," She replied and frowned just thinking about it.

"Pyo..." he agreed, but decided to brush that matter off. He waited patiently for her to finish her food, so he could show her the room where he stayed for the time being. When the weather wasn't crazy, he'd show her his usual place. She surprisingly ate the entire chicken and parked herself right back on top of Kirby's head. For some reason, it felt nice to have Chuchu on his head. It was like wearing one of the many hats he did when he transformed. He looked up, just barely seeing her bow. "Poyo~" He exited the kitchen and headed towards the room where the knights normally stayed.

.-.-.

The Waddledees were always willing to help Metaknight, especially how he just saved the ones blowing around in the wind. They were going to help distract Dedede while he was away unable to watch Kirby and Chuchu. He was...currently stuck with Ado, who he thought as awkward. But in the end, her following him to Kabu would just saves him the trouble of having to repeat whatever the wise guardian informed him of.


	7. An old tale and a new legend beginning

**A/N: Oh goodness gracious it's good to be back again! During my vacation, I got very sick and even needed medical attention! It was bad. I wasn't used to such extreme heat and it managed to take me out. When I got better and made it home, I got invited over to a wedding and had a lot of fun with that, and having friends and family hang out with me for several days. Then when THAT was done, I had Rainbow drops to work with. Man, guys, this chapter was very hard to write! But I smiled when I finally finished the chapter I was eager to upload for you all (: It took me days to get it done, it was very hard to write the pacing and such because whenever it comes to getting _out_ of setting up the plot, it's strangely hard.**

**This was that chapter. Which means, the chapter after this will hopefully be amazing and so will all the other ones after it! I tried my best to make this chapter long for my come back and will surely go back to daily updates right afterward. I want to get this story going! Enjoy!** **C:**

Little Kirby was beginning to feel embarrassed that he got his new friend lost with him in the castle he hardly explored. If he was by himself he wouldn't have minded because he loved exploring... but now with cute Chuchu on top of his head, he felt a little distressed with embarrassment. He wasn't sure if he should keep walking around aimlessly until he learned the castles layout himself, or if he should apologize for getting lost.

"Wow, this castle sure is huge. I never seen a castle before..." Chuchu marveled. She made noticeable shifts on Kirby's head to see the size of the hallways and how tall up the ceiling was. "Do you live in here, Kirby?"

"No, the biggest hill," he answered and kept wandering around.

"You live on the biggest hill you mean?" When Kirby nodded, she just about fell off until the puff she was riding on caught her and immediately placed her on top of his head again. "Hehe, whoops..." she laughed as Kirby laughed with her.

As the two walked, it no longer felt distressing for Kirby but he did desired to make it to where the knights resided. He was getting tired walking all the time on the hard marble and wanted to sit somewhere comfortable for awhile. After passing a Dedede statue that had a chipped right foot a second time, he sighed, "Poyo..."

"Oooh...you're lost, huh?" Chuchu asked as she tugged Kirby's frown away with her hands. "I'll keep a better look out! Don't sweat it~" she sang and patted his cheek. She felt a smile form on her new friend's face and a smile appeared on hers. As they wandered around the castle a little while longer, Chuchu pointed in the directions he hadn't traveled yet. Eventually, Kirby saw the door that he was looking for and tiredly walked in.

"Kirby! You're awfully cheery for a stormy weather like this!" Sword greeted when he heard Kirby's quick soft steps enter the room. He didn't notice Chuchu residing the top of his head because he was occupied with waxing his sword that was dull from being sheathed all the time. He continued the conversation, "I wonder if your special day will still take place with this kind of weather," he chuckled.

Blade was always the more observant brother despite being the younger one. He asked, "Kirby, who is she?"

"Chuchu," the two chimed in unison.

"Oh," Blade replied. He had difficulty on what to say next once his question was answered. Finding a solution near immediately, he turned to his brother who always had something to talk about.

Sword already got the deal and continued on, "Oh, hey! I'm Sword, and that's my younger brother, Blade. Yeah, there's height differences...but anyway! Have you seen our lord?" He saw Kirby nod 'no' and frowned behind his mask. He sighed, "Oh," and lowered his a head like a disappointed puppy.

Chuchu tapped Kirby and asked quietly, "Who?"

"Metaknight," Kirby answered.

"Ooooh, him. He must watch a lot of people..."

Sword chimed in proudly, "Yup! But mostly Kirby these days. In fact, Kirby's staying with us for awhile." He looked out of the window idly and mused aloud, "Seems to be a good thing too with that kind of weather..."

"Oh yeah, while you talked about the weather, you mentioned that Kirby had a special day. What is it?" Chuchu asked curiously.

"It's the day when everyone goes to the fountain that Kirby made when he defeated Nightmare. His Star rod in the center seems to make the water flow endlessly and have a gorgeous glow. It seems to be in it's own little dimension of sort, because prior weather outside of the zone doesn't seem to effect it, and it's almost always night time there..." Sword explained.

"Huh, so why would the weather make his day difficult?"

"Getting there," Blade answered.

"...Oh. Right," Chuchu giggled nervously and sunk into Kirby's head more. "I guess...I'll stick around until Metaknight gets here with my rainbow drop...and hopefully takes me to my friends if it isn't too much trouble."

"I'm sure Metaknight can escort you if it isn't too late by the time he gets here," Blade informed cooly.

Sword was more interested in the 'rainbow drops' and asked, "Eh? Rainbow drop? What's that?"

"Oh! Rainbow drops...well..." Chuchu began to explain...

-.-.-.-

"...I... highly doubt I will be here long enough for you to paint this scenery..." Metaknight explained as politely as possible to the artist that followed him. He may be seasoned from many things, but he could never harden himself from awkward situations such as this.

"No worries, Sir! If I don't finish it by the time you're done, I have a photographic memory to rely on!" Ado replied oblivious to Metaknight's discomfort. She was too busy swabbing her paint brush on her paint board to notice.

To Metaknight she couldn't possibly be making a serious master piece with the way she was wagging that brush around. Keeping his opinion to himself, he said, "Very well..." and decided to leave her be. He stepped on the pedestal in front of Kabu and asked, "Kabu, do you know of the rainbow drops?"

"...Somewhat. Though, I can feel the negative energy from the ones you have in your possession currently..."

"Yes, the ones I currently have are tainted. I need to know as much as possible in order to work with a possible threat coming, Kabu."

"Rainbow drops, in the ancient times they were used to make bridges across the seven continents of the planet... Eventually, they were shattered by Nightmare's hands. However, they still had the power to amplify anything as long as the source was tapped into. One could even put their essence into the seven drops to have them mimic their influence or simply nullify them."

"I take it they're being nullified..." Metaknight said as he grinded the stones in the palm of his gloved hand.

"I do not know."

"They can be restored?"

"Perhaps."

"Alright, thank you for the information, Kabu."Metaknight said and hopped off the tall pedestal he was using as a leverage. "Ado, I don't want to leave you here, so please, let's go--"

"Done!!" Ado exclaimed and hastily pulled the art board down. "See, I even put you in it!" She stated lively and pointed to the detailed blue puff on the pedestal in front of Kabu.

Metaknight was astounded by how the painting came out. It looked like something that would take hours to draw. His vanity kicked in at the sight of the amount of detail put into him and his cape, even his mask had a bit of sheen on it. He had to just say, "Impressive..."

"Thanks! This was my pride back home! I used to be in Cloudy park, but then it got messy and stormy...and it seems to be it's washing through Popstar?" Ado said as she scratched her head. "I don't know if I can ask..."

"You can."

"Do I have to be on the pedestal too?"

"No."

Ado didn't mind Metaknight's quick and to the point answers. She turned to Kabu and asked, "Do you understand what's with the weather?"

"Disturbance in the atmosphere." Kabu answered simply. "I do not know what it is exactly, just that it is aggressively bursting through."

"Oh...Thank you for answering!" Ado said and hurried ahead next to Metaknight. She noticed that he looked hard in thought, and that even his eyes were strangely green. She inquired, "You're thinking about doing something?"

"Don't worry, just go about your usual life. The storm will past and I'll worry about the rest."

"Well, alright. But I have a lot of questions to ask you!"

"Ask as we walk," the wise and patient knight informed and lead the way.

"So everyone's preparing for a holiday?"

"Yes, I'm impressed that despite the weather we're still hiking. Bring another paint board, you'll surely want to paint that scenery, it's out of this world," Metaknight said, hiding his pink eyes. Admittedly he wanted a souvenir of the fountain of dream with her talented painting, but instead he wanted to come off as a wise foreseer.

.-.-.-.

About an hour had past that Kirby napped through as Chuchu and Sword blabbered about many things Blade tuned out. He eventually had to even leave the room for some quiet, saying that he was simply waiting for his sire to return. Miraculously enough when Metaknight did return, Sword grew respectfully silent and Kirby woke up like he would wake up for watermelons.

"Metaknight!" Kirby chirped and jumped out of the bed.

"Hello, Kirby, napping before the big event?" Metaknight asked in a very friendly tone. Today was a reminder of Kirby's accomplishments and just how much the little warrior grew. He was incredibly proud of Kirby and would make it to that fountain no matter what, regardless if there was a crowd accompanying his visit or not. He patted the giggling boy on the head and stated, "C'mon now, we have to get ready to go to the fountain of dreams."

"Yay! Fowndain of dreams!" Kirby cheered and hurried out of the door. He knew better than to run up or down the hall ways and waited for the others to lead the way for him.

The walk to the outdoors was painfully long to Kirby. It wasn't often that Metaknight ran, and he was wishing that right now was one of those times. He sighed and remembered the words, 'you're a growing boy' from his important figure and tried to comb up what patience that he could. The Waddledees he saw were carrying all of Dedede's favorite things in a hurry. This caused him to stop and tilt his body.

"Dedede is not coming. I pray for those poor workers," Metaknight answered Kirby's silent question and kept walking on ahead. He needn't tug on Kirby's hand, his distancing footsteps would cause the little one in size and age to follow.

Kirby followed him the whole way without the slightest bit of distraction, and outside, all the town folk and even people out of town were in heavy gear for the hike. They had a platform on wheels for Kirby to sit on and all kinds of other things the pink puff could only assume was a mass amount of food. Kirby squealed and immediately ran towards the crowd of cheering people. They caught him from going towards the food stash and chucked him into the rolling platform way in the front. It was lamp shaded with thick clear plastic to protect him from the wind and the rain and still allow him to see through it if he wanted. He was almost dissatisfied until he saw the back of Metaknight, looking like he was leading everyone to the way.

Kirby smiled and laid back, he felt this ride wouldn't be so bad after all.

.-.-.-.

"This stupid rain better stop! I want to point out some stars!" Dedede hollered and tossed empty bowls at Escargon. He didn't have bullets to make him dance with, but he had all kinds of dishes to toss a the poor snail.

"W-well, sire, if you just went to the fountain you'd have plenty of stars to look at!"

"I don't want any of Kirby's stars, y'idiot!" Dedede yelled and pitched a big bowl at Escargon's head.

Escargon ducked out of the way and ran to a corner with less glass to accidentally slither across.

"Well, maybe the rain won't last long, sire! Just please! If you break all the dishes you won't have anything to eat dinner on and no one to give you extras while they are out hiking!!" Escargon cried out to save himself.

Dedede stopped and took a bite out of his cake. He didn't want nor need to tell Escargon that he was right, but instead he tired to enjoy his cake and look forward to dinner.

But that was not working.

There was a lot of things wrong with today, or so he wanted to think, anyway. Kirby technically saved his life along with everyone else's, but still, he couldn't help but feel...._distaste_ for the little guy. Everyone fawned over him, everyone worshipped him and treated him like the king. He couldn't get the big deal besides that _one_ time he destroyed a giant cosmic dictator. Just that one time. He huffed in his chair and let his wrapper fall onto the floor, he didn't have to pick it up, he had Waddle dees to do that. Right now, he had to try and understand the fascination with Kir--

"Metaknight." He randomly said aloud disgruntled.

"What about him, sir?" Escargon grumbled at the memory of Metaknight breaking his shell. If Dedede had Kirby to whine and worry about, he had Metaknight on his hate list now.

"Everyone obsesses over him too. Ironic huh?" He said flatly.

Escargon held his tongue from commenting on Dedede's correct use of a difficult word and replied, "Yes. Both being a weird round alien that's obscenely powerful and something that everyone loves..."

"It's dumb."

"I guess." Escargon mumbled and sat down by the king, even if it was on the ground. He didn't have much to agonize over and he felt Dedede really didn't, either. He did nothing to be a remarkable king, he just happened to be scary enough to control everybody. Metaknight probably only dealt with him to have a nice place to live that was far away from the Cappies, so in a sense, he had power over them both either way if he lived here by force or niceness. Now Escargon felt extra pitiful and buried his face in his hands.

"I'm going to wish for their demise or something," Dedede mumbled boredly like wishing death on others was an everyday thing.

Escargon snorted, "The only thing that could take them out is something like a cosmic horror or something."

"Then sure."

"Sire."

"It'd be interesting to watch and you know it, Escargon." Dedede didn't care that Escargon sighed heavily and covered his face yet again, he found what he was wishing for, and kept repeating it in his mind, even if he wasn't thinking directly to a star he could see. He was hoping one out there picked up his powerful wish.


	8. Chaos

**A/N: Bah...FFnet is breaking apart again. I couldn't log in, and when I can, the uploader is buggy. I hope this chapter makes it okay ): I also deleted it and reuploaded in hopes it'll say I actually updated on the 9th pa  
**

At the arrival to the Fountain of Dreams, the hikers marveled the shrine in respectful silence. The area was undisturbed as said; It was like it was always a clear and warm night here. The stars were unusually bright, but very welcomed as they twinkled in a happy way. Children laughed and clapped at the occasional star shooting in the sky that left a milky streak after it. The softly glowing water flowed around the fountain's rings and into the fountain itself without splashing at all, it even flowed from the cusp of the fountain neatly like magic. While people continued to stare mesmerized, Kirby was actually sleeping soundly through the whole thing.

Chuchu, who was on top of Kirby like she was all day, tugged at his cheeks and whined, "Oh, Kirby! How could you be sleeping through this?" She whined more in hope it would disturb his sleep, but he was still sleeping without fail. "Kiiirby, you've napped already!"

Ado and Nago found themselves in the same carriage that Kirby was in, only because their friend Chuchu was here. She pretended that she was permanently stuck to Kirby's head to get a fancier ride. It was hard for Nago to not push Chuchu off and roll Kirby up like a yarn ball to roll and lay on, and instead bugged Ado for amusement. This made the artist cranky because she hated when his fur got all over her clothes, especially now since she didn't have many spares on her. She hurriedly got out of the carriage that was a little too dark to see out of and all of her crankiness washed away when she felt the cool mist brush against her cheeks.

"Woah..." She mused aloud. Her eyes scanned as much as she could take in and tugged a art board out of her bag that grew in size once it hit the ground. She tuned out everyone asking how could she possibly be drawing on a cloudy looking board and painted away. It didn't matter if people were watching her or not, just that this painting _must_ be done.

Chuchu looked over to Nago and murmured, "Nago..."

"You're not sticking to my fur, dear," he murmured back and groggily crawled out of the carriage and rested in the grass.

Chuchu sighed. She could get off of Kirby if she wanted, but something about being here was just so nice. Even his sleepiness was somewhat contagious, until he lazily opened his eyes and babbled something inaudible.

"Huh?" Chuchu asked as she looked down.

"Watermelons..." He mumbled and got up. He leaped out of the carriage with Chuchu still on his head, and saw that there was indeed watermelons! The sight of them was like caffeine as he was suddenly now energized. He knew better to inhale them right away with other people around, and instead gave them a firm hug of appreciation and temptation. "Watermelons!" he sang and took in its wonderful scent.

Chuchu couldn't even think of a food that she loved to the extent to hug and wake up for it. She didn't feel the need to ask and plucked up a smaller one and held it over Kirby.

"Kirby, here's one you can probably take whole," she offered with a smile.

Kirby took it instantly without the need of inhaling thanks to Chuchu. His smile was huge as he let the fruit swish around on his taste-buds before he finally swallowed it.

Metaknight shook his head at how helpless Kirby could get when it came to watermelons. But once he took his eyes off of the child, he felt his senses tingle. There was more than one kind of energy radiating from this place, which he could understand; this place was new. There was bound to be energy that he couldn't recognize... but there was also negative ones lurking and that was very strange to him. He looked at the gems in the palm of his hands, the color and light dulled as time coursed on. He knew the kids would be disappointed if they caught glimpse of this, and wandered over to a secluded area of the fountain unnoticed.

He could feel that this fountain was very pure, endlessly so that it should be able to purify these once holy gems in his hands. He was somewhat hesitant to dip his hand into the stream with a bit of old buried sense of insecurity creeping its way back up. He didn't have such normal and clean origins himself, so who knows what dipping his hand into these waters could do, _would do_ to him. But laughters of familiar kids marveling the colorful aura in the sky gave him a drive to dip his hand holding the rainbow drops into the water. There was a bit of a sting, like a needle piercing and drawing blood from him, but it wasn't _so bad_.

Until he couldn't pull his hand out of the water.

He felt his fear come back, even a wave of embarrassment that he couldn't get his hand out of the water. That simple needle piercing feeling was now a tight grip around his fist that felt like an intense burn. He hissed at the pain and how that negative energy was coming back at full blast. The pain was transferring through out his body, causing it to tremble. He was doing his best to endure the pain and not yell and disturb everyone's peace, but it felt like his mind was now clouding over; his visions blurring along with that feeling.

His heart pounded as memories scattered and scrambled around like a television blinking through tens of channels at once. Amongst the trip, it finalized and stayed fixed on Kirby's smiling face in his star cradle.

"_Are you...**sure** sending him... is a good idea?" _

"_Metaknight, it's either here on this crumbling planet or out there in vast space. And surprisingly enough, vast space sounds more appealing."_

_Metaknight looked at the other cradles that held other kids that were already put to sleep. Something about this felt wrong, even if it really was the only dutiful way. He was once a wander of space, and even though the children were to be put to sleep to not experience dreadful loneliness, it made him uneasy. The other two were set on a different plan than the little pink ball that was awake and cooing for play-time he wasn't going to receive. This one was going to be put to sleep for **two-hundred** years and set to wander the emptiest part of the universe to achieve this._

_Looking at him coo and reach up was heart breaking. More than he expected._

"_...Hey..!" The 'hey' was more of a childish squeal, but a word managed to form from it._

_Metaknight gently reached in, and felt the gentle warmth that really only a baby could have. Even then, he could feel the light and energy from the child, even when the infant's power, or well, some of it, was stored into a star in a jewel case that Metaknight placed in there not too long ago. As the child was distracted by Metaknight's unnatural fingers from the special gloves he wore, the knight programmed the cradle for it's job. When it was all set, and the child's hand weakened his hold on him, he looked as if he didn't want to go to sleep, and that he wanted to be lifted out of the cradle instead. The sleep wasn't a natural one, there was no yawns or smiles, just forcefully shut eyes and immobility besides breathing. _

"_I can't see your backside all day, Metaknight! We gotta go! Launch the ship, grab your mask and let's go!"_

_A louder yell came shortly after, "**Metaknight!!!**"_

"Woah what's that dark cloud in the sky?!" Gus cried out as he watched more clouds shakingly rise from various parts of the shrine. One unfortunate one in the water looked like it was literally melting away, and when it opened it's melting single eye-lid, holes were being burned in the white part of its eye.

Women and children screamed and cried as they ran for cover.

"Metaknight! Metaknight!" Kirby called out as he finally yanked his hand out of the water by tugging at his cape. The rainbow drops rolled out of his opened palm and into the grass, their sheen like new with micro sized stars orbiting them. Metaknight gasped and held onto his masked face as he frantically looked around a few moments. He felt at ease at the sight of the fountain, but the screams of people around him caused him to place another hand on his head as if he were shielding the screams.

"There's more dark clouds!!" Other by standers cried out.

"Run!!!"

Kirby pulled Metaknight's hands from his face and asked, "Poyokay?"

"I-I'm alright...cover for me, Kirby. I need to recover briefly," Metaknight instructed as he struggled to get up and move elsewhere with the rainbow drops he picked up.

Kirby nodded and ran into the battle field. The black clouds with single eyes looked distressed and pained as they circled around erratically. Steam was coming out of them and the smell was pretty bad, as bad as burnt trash that everyone of Pupuland smelt before. They weren't going anywhere near the Star rod, the item too holy to even try to tackle and break.

"K-Kirby! Shouldn't you try to use the star rod again??" Someone called out from the background.

"No!" Kirby answered and ran further to the fountain. He instead ate a large bubble from the fountain that emerged from his will and transformed. He donned a flimsy blue shower cap that had beautiful bubbles all through out the top of it.

Metaknight saw, but still had not recollect himself. The sight of this ability added to the blow of everything happening to him as he managed to murmur, "....Bubble ability."

"Oh wow, Kirby's saving the day again by transforming again!" Chuchu cheered while under the safety of Ado and Nago.

"Huh? You saw this before?" Ado asked as she watched the endless amount of bubbles flow out of Kirby's hat similar to the water flow of the fountain.

"Yeah, in the rocky lands when he turned into 'beam Kirby' Metaknight called him. He had a jester hat and a rod and turned a little yellow," Chuchu explained.

"Oooh..after this, we got to see if there's a paint Kirby!" The excited and experimental artist stated as she dug around her bag for loose paint to give to Kirby later.

"Ado..." Chuchu sighed at how typical this was of her.

"He's doing something big~" Nago stated and pointed towards Kirby for the girls to see.

Kirby held his bubble wand high up into the air, and with one swift swing, a large bubble shot from it and encased a dark cloud into it entirely. Even when it darted around in unbearable pain it could not get out until it dissolved entirely. Though dark clouds began to gang up on him, this did not falter his courage one bit. He swung his rod in long sweeps as tens of miniature bubbles filled the night sky with sparkling beams that showered on to the offensive clouds.

The sight of those one eyed clouds with orange stubs on them burned up Metaknight's emotions. He recognized the look through description he heard years ago, though he never personally seen them before himself until now. These things not only _devoured_ a planet he thought of as home, they were described as _worse_ than Nightmare; that not even Nightmare himself liked these things. Currently, it was a little hard to believe with how Kirby was wiping them out stylishly, but Metaknight knew better than to underestimate. These things traveled in pacts and Kirby surely was barely taking out a third of them. They traveled in pacts to devour planets and bodies for an unknown purpose besides possible expansion?

It didn't matter why, he couldn't let them dissolve Popstar. He didn't agree to the ways of this planet very much, but how much Kirby loved this planet and the people on it...

He tightened his grip on his sword and charged in towards a stubborn foe with a peculiar colored eye. This one's eye was a fierce pink color, the other ones had a simple orange color that matched their spines, while this one had purple spines. Galaxia's light was stronger than Kirby's bubbles, even if the child warrior's bubbles were amplified by the fountain's water. When Metaknight swung his blade at it, the eyeball hissed and flung its spines at him him. Though Metaknight reflected them as if they were simple projectiles, they homed right back into him.

The more he sliced them, the more they seemed to multiply. A few would've pricked him if it weren't for Kirby pitching in with protective bubbles as back up. The two worked together to tire out the eye that was now spineless. Was this one the leader? Neither could tell, but it was growing to be a troublesome pest. Kirby threw a bubble straight into it's eye when he couldn't before because it was so on guard earlier. The direct hit caused it to fall out of the sky and...simply disappear. Kirby observed confused and sat atop a bubble high into the air to scout the areas; it really was gone.

"Poyo..." He murmured confused as he continued to stay high in the air. He rather liked it up here, it was even prettier.

Metaknight was just as confused by this, he couldn't even sense it's energy anymore. He looked up at the sky, and past Kirby's colorful bubble mimicking the patterns of the aura in the sky...he still couldn't help but feel a series of emotions that made his stomach feel uncomfortably empty.


	9. Kid ideas

Technical note: Bold and Italics is a flash back/dream, while regular italics is something else (you'll see when you read.)

**A/N: Hey, everyone! Thank you for continuing to review! I noticed I got some questions on my references and what parts I've made up and what parts are from the games, so I am going to dedicate this author note for some trivia knowledge!  
**

**My storyline has pieces of Dreamland 2 that came out in 1994 for the Gameboy while being mixed with anime elements. Dreamland 2 is the game that Rick, Kine, and Coo first came from as well, but they were already in the anime at this point with established personalities. The villain of this story is Dark Matter, shadowy one eyed blobs. Some have orange spines, one had purple, and most don't have any(Kirby 64).**

**I am also using characters from Dreamland 3 that was released for the super Nintendo in 1997. Those characters being, Ado the artist, Chuchu the adorable pink blob, Pitch the little green bird, Nago the fat, but agile kitty who rolls Kirby around like a ball, and another character who hasn't been introduced in the story yet. I've picked them not only because Dreamland 3 is my favorite Kirby game of the entire series, I happen to adore those characters and art presentation too :) I base their personalities through the art shown in the game and Japanese picture book (Non manga), as well as their sprite animations, behaviors/abilities, and the several cutscenes in the game itself.**

**I highly suggest that if you have a wii, you get some wii points for the shop channel and buy Dreamland 3. It's just eight dollars too. :) Kirby's Dreamland 2 is a dated black and white video game(Good times...) but if you can, play it anyway and be bemused on how to defeat Dark Matter for about 15 minutes.**

**Anyway besides that, I lost a bit of sleep writing this chapter because I was determined**** to get it out...lol so I hope it's good and not messy from sleepiness. I managed to get some chuckles out of this.**

Besides himself, he and Kirby were the only ones capable of fighting; this caused Metaknight to stay awake until the other cappies woke up ready to hike back down to Pupuland. Though Kirby insisted to keep him company, he did not let the young child waste his energy to deteriorate his health keeping watch. Metaknight had over-estimated himself and was very tired, the walk down the mountain paths made him even more so. He managed to keep his posture, and was glad that the weather was so sunny and clear when they walked out of the fountain's dimension. The warm and kind weather, though confusing, helped bring his spirits up to keep his posture well-kept. As usual and expected of cappies, they were forgetful and easy-going creatures. The weather made it seem as if they weren't terrorized by giant eyeballs a few hours ago. The thoughtful knight tried to shake the thought out of his head; it would only tire him further during the walk. He looked back as he walked to see Kirby on top of the carriage enjoying the sun with a huge smile; he was just as carefree as the cappies themselves.

The apprehensive knight smiled solemnly and returned his gaze forward, if albeit a little towards the ground.

.-.-.-.

Metaknight left town while everyone showered Kirby with gifts at the square. Under normal circumstances he would have waited, but now he was too tired and troubled to. He couldn't recall the last time he had ever taken a nap, but it was all that he was thinking about as he walked back home. There were when times he didn't want to call Dedede's castle 'home', and now was one of them with the freshened memory of his old planet he adored back in light. _Those_ creatures were still here, and he knew it, but yet he couldn't understand why he _didn't_ want to think about it; his feelings were so mixed, he was hoping it was just because he was too tired to be clear with himself.

He hoped it wouldn't be in his dreams as he napped.

He made it to his room that no longer had that tiny bit of coziness to it. Nothing was right, it felt like things were spiraling down at an alarming rate. Alarming enough for him to stumble onto his bed and hold onto the ledge of it. His breathing was raspy, and his mask strengthened the distressing sound of the shaky breathing. He placed his hands on to the tips of his mask, contemplating if he wanted to remove it or not because the mask and his breathing was strangely wrecking his nerves, as if he were in a panic. "Exhaustion. It's just exhaustion," he thought to himself as he took big and deep breathers for a few moments. He calmed himself somewhat, and lied on his back with his eyes closed, quickly drifting to sleep.

_**Even though his trip was short, just twelve hours short, he was very eager to get home again, to an major event he had to be plucked from to help a neighboring planet in trouble. The event at home was the happening of his thoughts, even far away, inspecting and investigating that mysterious disaster that struck the other planet didn't bring him down; he had something major to return home to. It was a matter of time before they pulled into orbit and landed, and he sighed his anxieties away. People on this large ship with him were acquaintances and disappointed people evacuating to his planet he was too distracted to talk to, not even the rough pull of entering a planet woke him out of his zone.**_

"_**Oh god what is going on?! How'd it hit here too?!"One of the foreign men on the ship yelled as he glued himself onto the window in horror.**_

**_If felt like Metaknight's heart leapt out of him when he heard the horrified exclamation. He also turned to a window and saw that the kingdom he resided in looked just like the planet he had __came off of. His hands clenched against the window as if he were clawing his way out of the ship that was taking its merry time to land. He stumbled when the ship made a shaky land, feeling as if it was being tackled down by cannon balls. It didn't matter how it landed, he just wanted off immediately and ran for the exit. Upon exit, there was a frantic man ready to scream at the first person he ran into._**

"_**Dark clouds with orange spines!! They shot out of a giant cloud with a glaring red eye that consumed the skies! Upon it's arrival it stretched out its arms and..."**_

_**Mid explanation, pieces of the castle crumbled away and crashed onto the ground below, causing massive quakes and trimmers. The sound alone was able to surge through his heart and soul.**_

Metaknight gasped and jolted upright in bed. Only an hour had gone by, and just as he was about to lay back down and stare at the ceiling, his door knob wriggled; it was as if it was trying to turn but couldn't. An annoyed, "Poyeeah!" was heard from the outside as the door continued to wriggle about.

The knob wasn't up _that_ high...

"Could I have absentmindedly locked it..?" Metaknight quietly thought to himself and peeled out from under the covers to head over to the door. "Hold on, I'm coming..." he informed, his tone as quiet as a mouse. He noticed that the door _was_ locked and felt a pang in his head that he had a lack of memory of that; it was like something was lingering and tampering with his thoughts. None the less, Kirby was whining from the other side. When he unlocked and opened the door, he only saw a glimpse of Kirby's irritation that transformed into a bright smile with glistening eyes. Luckily for the older of the two, his mask hid the likely bags that were forming under his eyes and just his over-all distress.

"Metaknight!" Kirby greeted happily, still unaware of Metaknight's all-around exhaustion.

"Kirby...I thought you were going to stay in town..."

"I was," he answered as he shuffled something to stay behind his back.

"But..?" Metaknight asked, ignoring whatever was behind Kirby's back since the child was making an effort to keep it behind his small body to surprise him with, he figured.

"I missed you!"

Today and last night was just too much on his strained heart. _This_ was another shock that tackled him. Of all things to say, feel, think about, it had to be one of missing him by only being away for an hour. He would ask why, but he feared it would upset the kind and caring kid in front of him he was so proud of. He instead responded with, "Heh... what nice things did you get?"

"A lot!" He answered and jumped up. In his excitement, the hard-back book he was hiding from him toppled over with a semi-light sounding 'plop'. "Aww...oopss..." he mumbled with a frown.

"A book was one of those things?" Metaknight asked and picked it up from the ground.

"Yepyo!" Kirby answered, his 'poyo's still sneaking into his speech. Kirby hurried into the room and hopped up and down by the table his parental figure usually read at. "Pwease??" He eagerly asked with the best puppy eyes that he could manage.

Metaknight cringed before he wandered over to the table and sat down. He let Kirby climb onto his back and firmly park himself on the top of his head to look down at the opened book that already had large and colorful pictures in it by page 1.

"So I'm guessing Biburi gave it to you?" Kirby nodded and snuggled into his head, showing he was going to stay put and see those pretty pictures. "Alright...I'll read it," the knight said almost reluctantly. He wasn't one to read aloud, let alone a children's book...but he was willing to give it a shot, for Kirby. He did do a good job fighting after all.

"Hm, 'Sparkling kids'..? That's....an odd title, but alright..." Metaknight cleared his throat and read aloud.

_Once upon a time, sparkling kids were soaring through the milky ways. One star child flew a little too low from the group because he was a very curious one that wanted to see a star-shaped planet up close. He was amazed to see such a large star that was the size of all the large, rounder planets he and his school of friends flew passed. The lower he drifted to the planet, the further his friends curved for a turn not noticing him. Amongst his curiosity he did not notice himself and was in for a painful surprise._

_A large and bored king was star-gazing at his castle top when he spotted a very bright star that caught his interest. This child-like king was out experimenting at the future expense of the poor curious child in the sky. He thought that it was **boring** that others were doing the usual by wishing on the passer bys, and wondered if they were solid enough **to shoot down**. The star that he saw was surely large and bright enough to leave a trail that painted the night sky with bright white and blue stripes. His men with the cannon were able to trail it easily and fired a heavy ball straight to it._

_Poor Mr Star took a direct hit._

_As he fell out of the sky, weakened and vulnerable, he cried as pieces of him scattered across the island down below. He never felt the force of being hit or brung down, and closed his eyes in fear and sadness._

"Poyo..." Kirby murmured sadly when he saw the character's tear and injuries as he fell apart during his fall.

"Hm...this _is_ a little depressing..." Metaknight replied to Kirby's indirect sad murmur and turned the page. "But let's keep going."

_When he fell, he fell on the soft head of the kindest resident of Pupuland! _

"It's me!!" Kirby pointed to the round pink hero in the book. Metaknight simply chuckled at the cute present Kirby received and continued.

_Mr Star explains his predicament to the young hero of Pupuland. He needs his broken pieces in order to be whole and strong enough to catch up with his friends that are surely worrying for him. The pink hero agreed, and together, they searched carefully for the pieces. As the two of them traveled, many Waddle dees were scurrying to a single location; it almost made him think they were like him and his fellow stars in space. He noticed that a few were carrying glistening pieces that surely belonged to him._

"_Please wait! Those belong to me!" Mr Star desperately cried._

"_We know that! But they belong to our king now!" The leader of the Waddle dees answered and pointed his sword high up. Before the two travelers knew it, bombs were being tossed at them! "Hurry up and get to the castle while they're distracted!" _

_The two were surprised and blown away by the blasts from the Waddle dees and their leader. They lost consciousness of it all! In the morning, they were woken up by a friendly hamster and asked, "What happened to you?"_

"_We were bombed..." Mr star sighed. _

"_Oh, the king must be causing trouble again! Can you walk?" Mr star and his little friend nodded. The hamster replied, "That's good! I'll join you with whatever you're trying for. The more, the merrier!"_

_And now, there were three onto the way to the King's castle!_

_Just as they were about to make it there without a trouble, a rambunctious kid in fighting gear stormed his way passed them; fists ready to tackle._

Metaknight chuckled, "That's Knuckle Joe..."

"Poyo!" Kirby happily replied, even though he, and the other characters were drawn to look differently, it was fairly obvious.

"_I'm looking for the hero of Pupuland!" He boldly stated. The smallest and pinkest of the group raised his tiny hand to show he was the one he was looking for. The fighter grinned competitively and exclaimed, "Alright! Put up your fists, we're fighting!"_

_"Shouldn't you eat before a big fight, though?"_

_The crowd turned and saw a chef traveling around with a pan of cooked food and a star piece glistening on the top of the odd looking dish._

"_No way, that looks gross!" The snippy fighter resplied and stepped away from the offending pan._

"_Hey! You can't eat that!" Mr star cried out at the sight of his star on top of the food._

"_You guys didn't even try it yet..! Try it before you knock it..." The friendly cook whined._

"_N-no, you misunderstand! I need that shiny thing on top of it!" Mr star explained. _

"_You mean this thing?" The cook asked as he plucked the star piece off of it. "It's the topping, you eat it last!" Just as he was talking, a vacuum-like wind pulled all the food out of the pan and into the stomach of the tiny pink hero. "Oh...well...you can have it now, I guess..." he sighed with disappointment. He wanted someone new to eat his cooking, not the hero who was seemingly his biggest customer. _

_Mr Star gleefully took his piece back and was able to float a little easier and twinkle a little as well._

"_Can we fight now?" The impatient kid grumbled and fastened his boxing gloves._

"_No." A moderately deep and calm voice spoke from above. The group of young kids looked above and saw a masked and cloaked knight standing up high on a peak; he was shrouded in mystery. "There is a bright path you all must follow," he explained, his mask making it harder to hear, to understand; it was too muffled--_

Metaknight placed the book down and leaned on an opened palm. He was trying to decide should he be good humored and amused, or be insulted and embarrassed by this.

"Poyooo," Kirby whined and patted the book on the table. He was excited to see more of the story.

Metaknight snorted and picked up the book; he was embarrassed and insulted, but had a book to finish.

"_Huh whaddayah mean?"_

_"Don't fight one another and walk to true and bigger problem!"_

_"Can't I spar?!"_

_"No just follow the path or I'll make you," the knight stated as he managed to somehow keep his calm composure.  
_

"_Do I get to hit the big guy at least?"_

_"That is fine, yes," the polite knight replied to the complaining child and hopped away. _

"_That was random but insightful!" Mr star thought aloud. "But let's head to the castle, please!" The group nodded and headed on to the literal right path._

_The traveling kids were surprised that there was absolutely no trouble to come their way to and through the castle. Once they reached the top, the ill-mannered king was waiting for them with a smug expression and all of the star pieces behind him._

_"I had a feelin' you'd be here to take my possessions! You just can't stand it when **I** have something that you don't!" _

_"...No, Mr Star--" The little hero tried to explain but was cut off by the loud king._

"Kirby, I challenge you to a duel!" King Dedede shouted and hammered Metaknight's door down.

Metaknight was just too tired and drained to express distaste towards the king who just broke his door, he didn't even have the energy to shift the color of his dulled eyes. He murmured, "Uncanny valley..."

"Hey!" Dedede shouted and tapped his hammer against the door frame.

The knight simply answered, "We're busy."

"My duel's more important than kid books! Kirby, duel me!"

"No!" Kirby, answered and angrily shrank into Metaknight's head, as if he was suggesting the knight make Dedede go away.

"What do you mean no?!"

"He declined."

"I know that, Mr obvious!" Dedede hollered at Metaknight. "I called you to a duel so you can't say no!"

"As far as I know, you can, sire," Metaknight said as he let a yawn slip by. The unusual rudeness rubbed Dedede's temper the wrong way and he saw with the way the king stomped around.

Escargon peeped in timidly and added, "It's a gourmet race, Kirby!"

"Oh?!" Kirby cried out and jumped into middle field like he jumped into a spot light.

"What? That's not a duel..." Metaknight murmured in thought and got up from his chair to face the king and his loyalest servant.

"That's how we modern people duel! Not your _old_ way!"

"Just how the hell old do you think I am, then?" Metaknight asked in his sleepy grumpiness

"Kabu old! And I'm not here about this! I'm here about Kirby!"

"Gourmet! Gourmet!!" Kirby cheered, ignoring the duel itself but only thinking of the food.

Metaknight twitched, but Kirby was too in the way to boot the king away, even if he couldn't close himself away afterward with his door being broken.

"The course is already set up," Escargon stated and then explained, "You just need to head over to the square to munch and run! It's a meal while burning some calories!"

As Dedede and Kirby hurried down the hall and Escargon slithered after them, Metaknight groaned and palmed his face.

"Do I really come off as these ideas?"

**A/N: This entire chapter was yet _another_ reference. I gave it a moment of blatantness, to see if anyone can get it, but if not, I'll explain next chapter's author note. I remember in the anime random little moments like these happen, so I wanted to do it in the story too lol, even if it distracts from the plot for a few moments. And next chapter is the famous gourmet race from super star! How exciting. Originally, this was going to be apart of this chapter...but it was already too long so I'm saving it for the next! **


	10. Gourmet race!

**A/N: I hated writing this chapter and I'm going to apologize in advance for it's crappiness... I tried really hard to make a racing mini game work in story form but it's _much _more harder than I thought. I fought with this chapter for two days and revamped it several times, I even stared in space brainstumped on how to make this damn chapter work. I tried my best, and I hope it's at least readable/entertaining. At least I have huge confidence in chapter eleven not being terrible, it's a chapter I've been looking forward to writing for awhile which made chapter ten even more difficult to write :( I just didn't want to half-ass on you guys and tried my best. I almost gave up, but nope, I managed to push through, but it wore me out...I hope you enjoy D;**

In a short matter of time, the town square was built and ready for a race with day light still at it's brightest. The area, including a cavern that lead to the mountain peak was quickly set up by the thousands of Waddle dees. Usually Lololo&Lalala would host major events across the tvs of the people not participating, but Waddle doo was filling their spot for this one. Waddle doo grabbed his microphone and instructed, "Kirby! No inhalin' allowed, got it? And for everybody else watching... the rules of the race is that King Dedede and Kirby have to eat the most as well as reach the finish line! This racks up points to the final total of their score which truly determines who wins! At the check point to the caverns there will be a thirty minute break and then there will be two more races which reaches the top of a mountain!"

Kirby didn't hear the whole instruction of Waddle doo, but he did hear '**no inhaling**' and concentrated on that. He was told that the end of the peak there will be a sack with a glorious prize inside. He was incredibly curious on what it was and the mystery bag and the food drove him to win. Clanking armor caught his attention, and when he turned to the crowd, he saw Metaknight mixed into the crowd of cappies. Even a child like Kirby knew that was a rare sight and that Metaknight didn't like the cappies very much, so he took his presence here as a great honor.

"Alright, the race is starting as soon as Waddle Gee manages to pull the darn party cork!" Waddle doo shouted through the microphone. Still, Gee the Waddle dee struggled, but Cappies encouragingly cheered him on to pull that cork with all his might! Waddle doo, however, was his strict captain demanded he pull it. "Come on, Gee! Represent your fellow dees, man!!"

Gee's face reddened as he pulled with his soul. His captain was right, he had to for his hard working fellow dees! With a loud pop, it was finally pulled! He stumbled over from the noise, but luckily he did not pull a muscle or get run over by his large king. When he sat up, he could see that Kirby was in the lead already and sheepishly rubbed his head.

"Damn it, Kirby! How does your stubby little body allow you to move so fast?! Stop cheating!!" Dedede hollered. He panted as he tried to catch up, since eating and running was much harder than he thought it would be. It was all sitting in his chest, shagging down slowly with threat of becoming vicious heart-burn in the future.

As far as Kirby knew, heart burn didn't exist for his kind and very rarely did he ever feel full. His elastic and small body was playing a very huge advantage here as he kept a steady lead. He couldn't jump very high for some foods as much as he tried, so he focused on the foods down below, whilst jumping through hopes that seemed to only be on his side of the race. Food was becoming bleak on his end and it was making him sad as well as his tummy growl for more and disappointment. He kept reminding himself that he could not inhale and that he had to keep running to the finish. Above the line there was a giant tomato in view. Kirby wished it was a watermelon instead, but leaped for the win.

He snagged it into his mouth, and with a satisfying squish against his tongue, he realized just how gloriously juicy tomatoes could be, rivaling his love of watermelons.

"Ooooh, Kirby wins!" Waddle doo exclaimed as he rang a loud bell. To signify the first check point being reached.

Escargon took the bell away and harshly whispered, "You only ring the bell for King Dedede!"

"Well, _sorry,_" Waddle doo snidely replied an leaned on his stubby hand.

Over at the outer cavern check point, some of Kirby's new friends were there, though he didn't know yet. Ado and Chuchu wanted to introduce Pitch to Kirby, since besides Ado's drawings and Chuchu's blabber, he haven't personally met the young hero. The little pink girl blabbered all afternoon about Kirby, Ado illustrated most of Chuchu's babbles, but was strictly more interested in drawing the fight scenes more than the other stuff. She was on the look out for Kirby and finally spotted him walking up to a rock to sit on while rubbing tomato remains off his face on the big screen.

"Ah, there he is, Pitch!" Ado pointed ahead.

Pitch saw the male pink 'blob' and blurted out, "They confused her with him?"

"Well, they did only have a description to go off of," Ado chuckled in reply.

"But he's rounder like a candy ball, while Chuchu...well, she is indescribable..."

"Hey!" Chuchu shouted and whacked the bird off the low leveled tree branch he was parked in. "I'm not 'indescribable'. I'm _cute._"

"Y-yes...cute, yes. I'll..make sure to use that in the future," Pitch stuttered in fear and flew up a little higher in hope she couldn't stretch her limbs _that_ far.

While the kids' days were average and fine, Metaknight's were worsening. When he thought things were picking up for him, they sadly were not. What should be filled with tranquil and normalcy was still ludicrous and filled with despair. Dedede was black mailing him to talk to the hundreds of people here without reason. He hardly talked to fifty people in a year. He _could_ protest, or even chew out King Dedede after holding it in all of these years...but the immature king had the microphone in hand. Of course it was currently turned off, but with a simple click of a button it would be on to broadcast on large speakers since the tv at the cavern was blown out.

"All I want you to do is just say, 'The D.D.D. TV at the caverns is out so you'll have to bear with us and hope your king wins!' how hard is that?"

The tired knight groaned and opened his hand for the mike. He was just going to get this over with and hide somewhere unnoticed as things should be. Once the mike was in his grasp, he held it towards his mask and said, "The television is out for the time being and the race will resume. But before you get disappointed, my workers Sword and Blade are working on it." Metaknight explained smoothly despite the shyness kicking in. After the explanation he chucked, "If anything, you all should be praying for the dignity of King Dedede lagging behind terribly off screen." The crowd laughed and the knight was satisfied. Before the insulted and enraged penguin could snatch the microphone away, Metaknight crushed it in the might of his fist and walked away.

Kirby was confused as to what exactly had happened, but gave Metaknight and Dedede their space. Obviously, the knight was getting far away from the tantrum and Kirby knew the mere sight of his pinkness alone would disturb Dedede further, so he stayed put until the signal for lap two began. He patted his excited stomach and stared up high at the bell that would ring the next Waddle dee in with the confetti cork over. The bell rang on cue and another Waddle dee scurried over when Dedede and Kirby positioned themselves in their lanes.

The television blinked on, and as Sword and Blade were giving their thumbs up, it immediately switched over to Escargon grinning. The knight brothers were sorely disappointed.

This Waddle dee was much more successful and quicker with pulling the cork, but he was still knocked over by the loud blast. Kirby took the lead yet again, but the food was placed even higher than last race. He had no choice but to puff up and rack points. He was a very slow flyer and he wanted to frown at the sight of Dedede laughing and taking lead. He grabbed as much as his small arms could grab a hold of and landed to eat in one swallow. He resumed pace, a little more frantically and entered the cave. He followed the noise of Dedede's stomping, but the fat King has eaten everything in the way by then. Kirby felt like he made a big mistake by puffing into the air earlier.

He couldn't let that bring him down and kept running.

"Looks like I'm eating more than you, Kirby! Hahaha I'll cross this finish line as well!" Dedede cackled and hammered Kirby to the lower parts of the cavern. It didn't matter to Dedede that this was all being filmed and broadcasted, he wanted to win!

"He's cheating!!" Chuchu hissed angrily.

"I'm sure Kirby's stomach can lead him out!" Ado reassured Chuchu to calm her flaring disapproval . She also had faith in Kirby herself.

Kirby's nose was leading him towards food again. He didn't need to necessarily fly up but he managed to work his way out of the lower areas and back to Dedede.

"Cheater!" Kirby shouted at Dedede in his own disapproval, even though the young child had a feeling this would not break through his thick hat before it went to his thick skull.

"Whatever, Kirby! I ate more food this round and—Argh!!" Dedede shouted mid-sentence when Kirby ran ahead of him again regardless of being pretty far behind last time. The child caught the second tomato and rolled into the finish line just like before. He was low in score, but the finish line and tomato catch brought him up to a safe score. "You're still in last place!!" Dedede panted angrily an stormed away from his kid rival.

Kirby was a little off put himself, but despite being the baby of the two, he was strangely able to keep his attitude in check...Or it was just the juicy tomato calming his nerves.

Waddle doo was excited about the race whether Dedede was winning or not. Life in Pupuland was boring without demon beasts around, and he had to stay put in the castle during Kirby day, so this ridiculous race was entertainment godsend. He exclaimed through his microphone, "Okay, everyone! The score's tight and the final race is a really long one! It's to the very top of the mountain! They have to run through slopes, swim through water, and find a way to the top by climbing or even flying! Good luck!!"

Escargon nudged Waddle doo to the side and added to Doo's sentence, "To Kirby because King Dedede is going to blow him away!!!"

Some brave, or possibly _humorous _Cappies, booed Dedede's name just to rile him up.

Dedede shook his fist at the crowd while it took several Waddle dees to calm the raging King down. Finally, when things were settled down, the third Waddle dee pulled the party confetti and ran.

Dedede hopped into the air and landed with a heavy stomp that not only startled Kirby, it literally stunned him. The little pink hero was helplessly dazed on his back while Dedede ran away cackling.

"Come on, Kirby! You can do it!!" Ado cheered with a drawn megaphone.

Chuchu took Ado's megaphone and shouted, "Gooo, Kirby! I—we believe in you!!"

Kirby heard the cheers of his new friends, as well as familiar old ones and was brought back to his senses. Even though Dedede was in the lead yet again, he was sure to catch up. He didn't know he was _very_ far behind, though...

Dedede had secret roller skates on.

Ado saw such trickery on the large television and rubbed her chin as she pondered. She wondered if there was anything her magic art tools could do... She looked up at her green friend dozing off in the tree and said, "Pitch! I need you to fly up with me!"

"_With_ you?" Both Pitch and Chuchu questioned.

"That's right," she answered and quickly began to scribble a helmet with rockets on it.

"You're not going to imitate Kirby with those hats are you??" Chuchu asked in concern and nearly yanked the pencil away from Ado.

"As much as I want to, no, I'm going to drop this to him and hope it works, though. And don't ask me how, you'll see how! Just follow me, Pitch!" Ado said as she scribbled a large cluster of balloons with red chalk next. When those peeled off of the rocky ground, she grabbed a hold of them and lifted up into the air. "Okay, follow me, Pitch!!" She signaled as she flew higher into the air.

"For all of that, you could've drew a rocket that goes onto your back than unreliable balloons..." Pitch murmured as he soared beside Ado.

Ado's face soured at the realization, especially how when she looked down she kept flying even higher. "Pitch, keep using your brain, okay!!"

Pitch caught on and popped two balloons with his pointy young beak then asked, "Is that better??"

"No, pop more of them!" She shrieked while trying to keep a firm hold of the helmet.

"I mean if you want you can fall into the water!"

"POP!!!"

"Okay! Okay!" Pitch chirped nervously and popped several more. He then noticed, "Now you're drifting out of the sky!!"

"T-that's okay! Kirby's getting out of the water! Just pop them all—please!!" Pitch did as requested and popped the remaining balloons. She fell out of the sky and onto her rump right in front of Kirby and yelped in pain.

Kirby on the other hand, yelped in surprise, "Ado?!"

"H-hi, Kirby...I wanted to deliver this to you, put it on, eat it, which ever..." She replied and gave the helmet to Kirby. She resumed rubbing her hide because it would be an awful long while before she got back up again.

"Thank you!" Kirby said and ate the helmet. He transformed into 'Jet Kirby' and ran on ahead a safe distance from Ado before he blasted off at fiery high speeds.

"Gosh I hope Pitch flew off to get someone to help me...ow..."

Dedede was cackling at how close sweet victory was in front of him. He wasn't even running anymore. He had eaten more food for sure and was a few meters from the finish line. He turned to the camera in view and expressed a victory sign to brag and gloat in his childish glee... but dust clouds covered the view.

"Hey! What is that!!"

Waddle doo slammed his hands down on the desk and shouted, "Slow mo! Come on, slow mo!!!" Even with slow-mo it was hard to see, but a finalized still shot showed Kirby happily colliding with a large watermelon hanging above the finish line. Even at super speed he was able to _eat_ the watermelon whole than smash into it. Pure adrenaline rush, Waddle doo shouted, "And Kirby wins!! Unlike last race when he was wheel Kirby and somehow ended up second! I don't remember the details but holy cow!!"

"Stop cheering for the wrong person!" Escargon growled and strangled Waddle doo before the television went off air.

Kirby's helmet had already disappeared, and he didn't care for anything else but that mystery sack! The sack was also high up in the air until a Waddle dee high up cut the string so that the sack would fall. Upon landing, a weird deep blue blob rolled out of it. Everyone was confused, but Kirby was more so curious. He leaned in and tilted his body at the blob that was twitching in front of him. He poked it and was startled when it suddenly turned over and showed its goofy face. When Kirby stared at him a little longer, he laughed at his face, and the blob strangely laughed shortly after. When Kirby stopped, it stopped and when Kirby tilted, so did it. Kirby poked him once again and exclaimed, "Gooey!"

The blob couldn't talk, but it sure pulled off a heck of a grin in reply and licked Kirby with his elastic tongue like a happy puppy.

"Gooey!" Kirby repeated and picked him up.

He liked this prize.

Even though it wasn't the real prize. The real prize was a sack of watermelons from the farmers...but it appeared the blob had eaten them.

.-.-.-.

Back at the castle, Kirby was giving the blob he dubbed as Gooey just about everything he could find in the castle. He even gave it a chair and watched it consume that in a single gulp. Despite how different the weird creature looked, it sure could eat like he could. Sword and Blade were admittedly entertained by this, but after watching a kid and his newfound pet be chaotic for so long he couldn't help but wonder...

"Where's Sir Metaknight?"

Right on cue, Metaknight came slugging through the door covered in tree leaves and branches stuck in his cloak. He didn't speak to any of them, neither did he notice the newcomer on the ground eating a golden statue, he only noticed his bed.

"Sir! What happened??" Blade asked and frantically plucked the mess off of his lord.

"I fell asleep in a tree," Metaknight admitted and lied in his bed with his back turned to everyone.

Sword quietly walked out of the room, because it was far too hard to keep his laughter in, and Blade was staring at Metaknight flabbergasted.

.-.-.-.

Dedede was intently looking around for a star with a telescope that wasn't his.

"I'm aiming for _change_, _damn it,_" he grumbled and fumbled with the telescope until he found a peculiar star in the scope. "And you're the star that's going to grant me that change! I want love, fame, and power! And Escargon doesn't count!!" Just as he finished his wish, the star had disappeared. He peeled himself away from the telescope confused, feeling a very heavy headache coming over him. "Staring through that tiny hole and messing with the volume must've hurt my head. How does that nerdy Fumu and old-Curio do this all day?" he mumbled and wandered to his bedroom for sleep.

The headache intensifying with closed eyes.

**A/N: I need a minor break after this back breaking chapter. Expect Chapter eleven by wednesday C:** **Oh, right. Chapter 9 was a parody of the Japanese-only game "Kaabii no kirakira kizzu". In translation it's: Kirby's sparkling kids (No I don't get it either) but commonly referred to as Super star stacker since it's the sequel of the gameboy puzzle game Star stacker but on the super nintendo. It stars a game about Mr Star trying to get his stars back from Dedede who trolled him gloriously so.**

**Another note is that in this chapter a new chaacter was introduced: Gooey. Gooey is famously known in Dreamland 3 because he's player 2 and has a shinier role in it, but he first appeared in Dreamland 2, popping out of a sack and healing you in thanks.  
**


	11. A rumble in the heart, tummy, and sky

**A/n: Ooooh boy...**_**many**_** Wednesdays have past by, huh? Lol I'm going to be perfectly honest and say: I'm extremely hooked on Tegaki... It's very fun, but little by little I manage to tear myself away and write a page every so now and again...and here it is :'D I'm going to say it now that the updates will still be really slow because Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver is coming out, as well as Mario&Luigi 3 in the same week span no less. So yeah, I'm sorry for the unworded absence. Enjoooy.****  
**

Metaknight managed to sleep a moderate six hours before another bad dream had hit him. He was on his stomach when he woke up, and unbuckled his mask off his face to stay this way a little more comfortably. He was in his room with those that saw his face already, so it didn't matter much to him. His eye-lids were incredibly heavy despite him being unable to move his body much or go back to sleep. He was exhausted but not his brain; it never was when he thought about that as well. He figured why he was having bad dreams, he just had no idea how to stop his behaviors. He was rather neurotic, he admitted to himself, but not to others in his entire life time. When there was something he knew nothing of, especially unable to learn more of...it made him really scared.

He was more than scared, he was terrified; and worse, he had no one to talk to about it.

He clutched his pillow and fished through his mind for a solution, even if one that was temporary, but he was getting nothing but more fuel to his horrors. He remembered his thought process twenty years ago; it was either focusing on that mysterious passing disaster or Nightmare. He chose Nightmare because he at least knew who he was and that he was physical. He focused on Nightmare and the war so much that he had actually _forgotten_ the dark cloud that functioned like a mysterious Armageddon, as well as...those he knew back then. He sighed heavily, finding a new thing to curse.

Himself.

In his complex of wanting to be on top and to know everything, as well as never be down in the dumps like he was now, he even blocked out his own memories? Or was some _other_ influence simply chewing at his mind? Is he being paranoid or is he trying to make excuses for his short comings and being in the dark? Kabu knew nothing so what could he do besides just go into the battle field without a plan, without sight? That wasn't how he done things and he was scared to even try that; unless that was the only way. He couldn't recall a time he had ever felt this way, and was now wondering if he had but just buried it. He frowned heavily and thought, "What's wrong with me?"

He heard a tender voice call out to him from below, "Sick?" It was Kirby looking worried for him.

"I...probably..." He replied reluctantly. He wasn't sure of anything as of late.

Kirby gasped and then murmured, "Uh oh.."

"I just need to rest..."

"And eat!" Kirby added with a worried filled frown.

Metaknight smiled sullenly and replied, "I don't _really_ have an appetite, Kirby." He chuckled softly at Kirby's expression that was a literal 'yeah right' and leaned in closer to the child. He whispered, "I'll let you in on a secret. I honestly don't have an appetite or a need to eat, I could go without it for weeks. But I do hunger constantly for sweet things. It makes me feel better, always been that way..."

Kirby looked confused and replied, "Weeks?? Not an hour..." he whined as he patted his belly.

Metaknight smiled at Kirby. The troubled knight hadn't realize that all he needed was social contact to keep him from his bad thoughts. Not just any contact, but Kirby's. Kirby was important to him, he just never openly expressed for the issues that would ensue. He is an underling of Dedede's, even if partially part time, partially. Sure, he had his own insecurities of being just like Kirby, somewhat, but now did he really have a reason to be so down low? Dedede no longer had demon beasts, so they were fine, this castle was just his ticket away from Cappies! But it did leave him stuck with Dedede.... there was no good side _or _ lesser evil was there? He sighed again at the realization, getting caught up in his thoughts yet again, maybe social contact _wasn't_ the solution.

"Meeetaaa..." Kirby whined and puffed his right cheek. He did not like being ignored even if he couldn't talk really well. But the spacey knight's eyes were heavily green and he knew what that meant and he was capable of seeing rude behaviors.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Kirby. I'm still dazed and sleepy..."

"...Oh." Kirby replied and frowned. He felt bad seeing Metaknight this way and wished there was something that he could do for him, but had no idea how to word it.

Metaknight on the other hand noticed Kirby's devout attention as of late, especially since he's been left here. He was sure it was all because he lost his mask and that he appeared similar... he couldn't help but ask, "Kirby, is it my face that draws you to me?" He saw Kirby smile brightly and nodded, but this disappointed him. "Ah..."

"I remember you!" Metaknight winced purely from shock, and his facial expression displayed his feeling very clearly. Kirby thought of this reaction as a 'happy' shock and continued, "Over my star!" Still, Metaknight remained frozen for a few moments. It took a confused poke in the face from Kirby to knock him out of it.

"Hey, don't touch people's faces like that," he scolded lightly and shifted away from the offending hand. "You're right, I was over your star ship. Your mind must've been so advanced to be able to remember my face so long ago and so young... Tell me, do you know who I am then?"

"Metaknight!" Kirby answered, giving him a expression that asked why was he asking such an obvious question!

"Not now, then. When I was over your star."

"Uh...nooo..?" Kirby answered as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. His older friend exhaled heavily, albeit absent mindedly as if the conversation was finished; but to Kirby it wasn't. "Tell me!" Kirby gotten no reply and edged closer to the bed frame and added, "Pleeease?"

"There's nothing else to say," he answered flatly and turned over to his side to avoid eye contact.

"Uh huh!!" The pink one rebutted and tried to turn him over to face him, but the bigger blue one was holding onto the side of the bed to aid him in his conquest of keeping his back facing. Kirby gave up in a huff and left with a stomping trail—as loud as his light weight could manage, at least. He didn't forget that Metaknight was sick and thought of going to the doctor's. Sunlight was filtering through the windows of the large hallways, so it was a pretty safe idea. He hurried just in case, taking pride in speed he didn't know he had until the gourmet race.

But the poor boy got lost in the castle yet again.

His mood did not weaver, but his luck rose at the sight of waddle dees carrying a box of miscellaneous things. They looked a little wet and he ran up to them and asked, "Raining??"

"Drizzle!" They answered in unison.

"Oh..." Kirby murmured and looked at their foot print puddles that would likely lead him to the outside. He was tapped on the head with something until he looked up and saw that one was offering him an umbrella...of Dedede's colors of course. He smiled and exclaimed, "Thank you!" and ate it to have a customized parasol for his use. The weather was fine for them, so it would surely be fine for Kirby, right?

.-.-.-.

Escargon slithered around many corners of the castle looking for his king. He was at a loss since the king was either sitting on his tush in the main room, or in his bedroom. He was _never_ anywhere else in the castle; it was like he didn't need a domain this big with how little he moved around or ventured. None the less, Escargon was wandering obscurer places of the castle, until finally, he spotted Dedede on the balcony out in the rain. His head was low as he looked over the balcony, as if he was looking deep in concentration, or to Escargon, failure.

He scoffed, "Your majesty, I know you've lost in front of everyone, but this is ridiculous! Shouldn't you be used to it now?" He walked further towards his king and called, "Your majesty--" he was shocked that Dedede grabbed his hand and looked so intently into his startled eyes.

"Can I not enjoy the rain? It's cool against my skin—But if you're worried about me getting sick," he trailed off as he let his hand go and strolled off. "I'll go back inside."

Escargon was still stuck in place, unable to turn around and watch his king walk away.

When King Dedede made it to his throne room, several waddle dees including captain Waddle doo was there. When he took his seat on his throne, they all simultaneously saluted. He did not speak first, but instead waited for a specific signal.

"Nil, sire! We have found the perfect refuge hosts!" 'Waddle doo' informed.

'Dedede', who was referred to as 'Nil', replied, "Wait... you're not supposed to possess the one with the single eye."

"Well..." The single eyed one began as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "He's the only one who can speak, Nil..."

"I'm pretty sure the others can," Nil rebutted calmly.

"Well, yes... but only a select few according this 'doo' being's memory bank."

"Find those and transfer to them instead, please."

"Yes sir!"

One possessed Waddle dee held up a sign that read, 'what if we write to you??'

"Isn't that... tedious?" Their ruler answered with a concerned arched brow.

'...Yeah, kind of! But anything for you!'

"No...don't trouble yourself like that. Just fine those dees with the talent of speech. You all already have a load on your hands, alright?" The little crowd nodded and scurried off to do as told. The mysterious and intrusive leader in King Dedede's body yawned a little loudly. Afterwards, he thought aloud, "I'm always so sleepy in this body..." Then his stomach had growled. "...Hungry as well. What is with this body?" he grumbled and pouted onto the arm rest of his chair very troubled.

"Good to see that you're acting yourself again, your majesty!"Escargon exclaimed relieved as he hurriedly slithered his way to his superior.

"Escargon, do you know anyone who can train this flab?" 'Dedede' asked as he pulled against his body fat.

Escargon laughed and replied, "Never mind, I was wrong, you're surely not yourself!"

"Just answer me," the higher up commanded. His tone of voice was far more calmer than Dedede's usual tantrums and fits.

"All I can think of is _that_ Metaknight," the assistant snail answered more seriously.

"Ugh, not him...never mind, I'll jut exercise myself then," he replied and stretched out of his chair.

"And since when did you decide to speak so properly??"

"Uh, since--" his stomach growled yet again, and a sudden wave of fatigue overpowered him enough to sit back into the plush throne. It was forming into a bad habit. "...Feed me, please?" Escargon stared bemused at the use of 'please' and the quiet tone. The large blue penguin was hesitant before he yelled, "Now!" Though the yell was half-hearted, it was enough to trigger Escargon to runaway to fill an order. Nil sighed and rubbed his temple, digging into the mind of the small minded penguin. He thought with exasperation, "Being my polar opposite is...going to be hard."

.-.-.-.

The drizzle outside had gotten just a tad heavier, but the optimistic and courageous Kirby did not mind.

...Even if he was thinking over road routes while facing a mud slide. The _actual_ road had the slippery and possibly steep mud slide, while the 'other' road, a large gap where a bridge was snapped, he thought he could float across with his parasol. The pink child in dilemma continued to think about it, with use of pros and cons. With the gap, there was almost no pros besides not getting muddy, with the muddy route, he can not only ride down it in his parasol, it would be fun! Not to mention the rain could wash everything off afterwards! He ran for the mud quickly hopping into his enlarged parasol and squealed in delight as he rushed down the road.

The ride was much shorter than he would have liked, but that was just how fast it was traveling. He tumbled out of his umbrella and rolled out of the way of the mud. He let the rain rinse whatever was on him before putting the umbrella over him once again. He twirled the stubborn mud splotches off his parasol and was mildly amused by the twinkle noises that it had made. A hollow wind blow reminded him of what he needed to do, because the sky was darkening, even if at a slow pace. Pupuland was in view so he ran to the doctor's, hoping that he was there.

When he reached upon the office, all the elder men, excluding the mayor and the chief, were there eating out of instant ramen cups in a bored circle.

"Poyo!!" Kirby exclaimed excitedly to make himself known.

The doctor of the old crew bolted up and cried aloud, "Kirby! What are you doing out in that weather??"

"Medicine!" He answered.

The doctor calmed, but was more so confused. He asked, "Huh, why?"

"Meta's sick. He don't sleep or eat and grumbles a lot with this face!" Kirby explained with a tired but aggravated expression to mimic his important friend.

"Sounds like stress to me,"Yabui chuckled his answer to the concerned child. "I'll give you something nice to deliver to him," he said as he wandered off to his medicine chamber. As he done this, the legendary mailman approached Kirby.

"I know you'll run into Fumu eventually, so I want you to give this letter to her the next time you see her," he explained and handed it to Kirby. "It's from that unique fish at the beach."

"Didn't she date that one?" Curio asked mid-slurp of his ramen.

"Haha, yeah she did...Only Fumu," Yabui chuckled as came into view with a gift bag of things. He handed it to Kirby and informed, "There's something in there for you too, just in case if you catch a cold, alright? Hurry back!"

"Thank you!" Kirby exclaimed and ran out. Though it wasn't raining heavily, he was curious to see Kine. The beach wasn't too far away, so a detour wouldn't hurt _too much_. Howling wind is just howling wind, after all...

.-.-.

Metaknight was looking at the clock that read early morning, yet the skies were in between dark and light as if it was six in the evening. He was feeling groggier by the hour, and could swear he was having a fever come in. When he heard the armor of his subordinates, he grumbled for their attention which they gave.

"Yes sir?"

"Have you seen Kirby?"

"Nope," they answered as well as shrugged. Metaknight's displeased expression straightened their attitudes immediately. "We can uh....look for him."

"Do that," their leader said almost a little coldly and turned over to hide his worried frown. When they left him, the sky rumbled and he clutched his pillow.


End file.
